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Amid bullpen confusion, SF Giants rally to avoid loss to National League's worst team

Evan Webeck, The Mercury News on

Published in Baseball

MIAMI — Finally having chased Edward Cabrera, the Marlins starter who flummoxed the Giants for six innings Monday night, it didn’t initially look like their luck had shifted when Matt Chapman lined a surefire single into center field that found the outstretched mitt of a diving Jazz Chisholm Jr.

But the next batter, Thairo Estrada, on a tear of late, ripped a double down the left-field line and advanced to third on a wild pitch. That turned out to be a sign of things to come from George Soriano, who was called on to relieve Cabrera and put two more batters on base via walks and hit another.

Both free passes came around to score in a three-run seventh inning that erased an early deficit and averted a series-opening loss to the National League’s worst team.

Mike Yastrzemski, the recipient of the first walk, raced home from second base when Jung Hoo Lee lined the seventh pitch of his at-bat — after fighting off three two-strike pitches foul — into left-center field, and pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores followed with a single up the middle to score the go-ahead run.

Seeing his first action since last Sunday, Camilo Doval recorded his second save of the season and the Giants won, 4-3.

The ending wasn’t without intrigue, or at least some confusion.

 

When Doval entered the game with two outs in the eighth inning, he had yet to throw a warm-up pitch in the bullpen. Taylor Rogers, the lefty, had been warming and made it halfway to the mound, the logical choice to face the left-handed pinch-hitter Nick Gordon.

But manager Bob Melvin signaled again with his right hand, and after some pause, Rogers walked back to the bullpen. Marlins manager Skip Schumaker was ejected protesting the strange situation, which put the game into a standstill as the Giants sorted out the correct pitcher.

Doval, Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker combined to blank the Marlins over the final three innings, and the Giants bullpen lowered its ERA on this road trip to 2.25, a stark improvement from the group’s rocky start to the season.

Behind six strong innings from Kyle Harrison, San Francisco improved to 6-1 when holding opponents to three runs or fewer. The Giants have won only one other game.

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