What we learned as Giants’ bullpen rebounds in win over Mariners

What we learned as Giants’ bullpen rebounds in win over Mariners originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

With the Giants (66-65) desperate to stay alive in the National League playoff race, San Francsico gutted out a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners (65-65) on Saturday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.

The Giants snapped a two-game losing streak, and now sit 4 1/2 games back of the Atlanta Braves for the NL’s third and final wild-card spot with 31 games remaining in the 2024 MLB season.

Although Blake Snell‘s homecoming start was brief, San Francisco‘s bullpen stepped up in a heroic way to deliver a much-needed victory over Seattle.

Here are three takeaways from the Giants’ win over the Mariners Saturday:

Bullpen Bounces Back

After San Francisco’s bullpen eroded in heartbreaking fashion in the Giants’ 6-5 loss on Friday, the pitching staff rebounded epically on Saturday.

Spencer Bivens entered a tie game in the fourth inning and delivered three strong frames, including blanking the Mariners in the fifth after San Francisco took the lead in the top half. Bivens allowed two hits, no walks and no runs while bridging the gap through the middle innings before handing the baton to the back end of the Giants’ bullpen.

Camilo Doval made a triumphant return to the mound, shaking off early rust to get the Giants out of a bases-loaded jam to preserve a one-run leadnvm in the seventh inning. Doval came back out for the eighth inning, retitring the side in order. In his first big-league appearance since being optioned to Triple-A Sacramento earlier this month, Doval pitched 1 1/3 innings, striking out two while allowing no runs or hits.

Ryan Walker shut the door in the ninth inning, striking out two and continuing his run of dominance as San Francisco’s closer.

The Giants’ bullpen finished Saturday’s contest allowing only one run in six innings of work between Bivens, Doval, Walker and Jordan Hicks.

Short-Lived Homecoming

Snell was born in Seattle, and typically pitches well against the team he grew up watching, boasting an impressive 0.81 ERA in four appearances against the Mariners before Saturday’s game

The star left-handed pitcher ran into trouble in the second inning against his hometown team, walking five Seattle batters in the frame and allowing two runs, despite not giving up a hit.

Snell walked six batters across his first two innings on the mound Saturday, leaving the two-time Cy Young Award winner in a precarious spot as his pitch count ballooned to 63 after recording only six outs. After rebounding with an 11-pitch third inning, Snell would not return to the mound for the rest of the game.

Snell’s rapidly accelerated pitch count signaled it probably would be a short outing for the lefty, with his three innings of work Saturday tied for the fewest during a start during his Giants’ tenure.

Fitzgerald Sets The Tone

With San Francisco’s offense still struggling to deliver the knockout punch with runners in scoring position, Fitzgerald’s frequent presence on the basepaths Saturday proved vital in a game where the Giants needed to scrape across every run they could.

The rookie shortstop started off Saturday’s clash with a bunt single, eventually scoring the game’s first run on a Matt Chapman RBI sacrifice fly.

Fitzgerald came up to the plate again in the second inning, knocking in Thairo Estrada with an RBI single to extend the Giants’ lead.

Fitzgerald finished with two hits, one walk, two stolen bases, an RBI and a run scored. The most electric bat in the Giants’ lineup continued his stellar rookie season with another strong day at the dish.

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