What we learned as Giants ride bullpen game to win over Rockies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Coors Field might not be so bad after all.
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After a thrilling 10-7 extra-inning win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night, the Giants put together one of their most impressive bullpen games in recent memory.
It blew up in their face against the Dodgers on Saturday, but San Francisco's bullpen rose to the occasion and did so in one of the most hostile pitching environments in baseball.
Here are three observations from the Giants' 6-3 win over the Rockies.
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It actually worked ...pretty well
The Giants have not had a lot of success in bullpen games recently. If you listen closely, a collective groan can be heard from the fanbase every time a bullpen game is announced and a reliever takes the mound in the first inning. And understandably so, they aren't very exciting and oftentimes is an ominous sign that the rotation is weak.
John Brebbia again took the mound in the first inning on Tuesday, recording two strikeouts and just one hit. He gave way to Tyler Rogers, who tossed two shutout innings, before giving way to Sean Hjelle, who put together four solid innings of work. Thomas Szapucki surrendered a run in his one inning of work. Yunior Marte recorded two outs in the ninth but allowed a single and a walk, giving way to Jarlin García, who recorded the final out of the game thanks to an incredible catch from Austin Slater.
Collectively, the bullpen surrendered just three runs at Coors Field on Tuesday. The Giants will take that any day.
Teamwork makes the dream work
The Giants' offense scored six runs on Tuesday night, with five different players recording an RBI and seven of nine hitters recording a hit. David Villar blasted his sixth home run of the season in the top of the seventh inning. Slater and Thairo Estrada each recorded two hits and Joey Bart scored a pair of runs. Other than that, nobody really carried the offense, which has been the Giants' recipe for success.
In two games, the Giants have combined to score 16 runs, with hits from 13 different batters and RBIs from eight. Their three home runs each came from different hitters as well. The even distribution of offense was key for the Giants in their 107-win 2021 season and is a sign that from top to bottom, San Francisco still can fire on all cylinders, even in wrapping up a lost season.
Settling down
Not only did Hjelle record four-plus innings on Tuesday night, but he looked much better than he did in his disastrous eight-hit, six-run inning in Saturday's 7- loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Essentially the Giants want to use Hjelle as the bulk inning guys when they go with an opener. He failed at that role on Saturday but responded well to the worst outing of his young career with a very solid performance on Tuesday night. He was charged with two runs, surrendering six hits over four-plus innings with three strikeouts and zero walks. The tall righty was greeted with high fives in the dugout after he came out in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Giants drafted Hjelle as a starting pitcher, and the 6-foot-11 righty even has made 22 starts for Triple-A Sacramento this season. So you would think that San Francisco would give one of their former top pitching prospects a look as a traditional starter, especially with the injuries in the rotation. Still, for now, it appears he's limited to a long-relief role.
