Photo by Chris Mezzavilla/KNBR
SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants signed Mark Melancon to a four-year, $62 million last offseason to serve as the team’s closer. And on Tuesday afternoon, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy declared that Melancon is ready to close ballgames.
But at least for the immediate future, Melancon will enter games as a set-up man for Sam Dyson.
“I think he’s (Melancon) ready,” Bochy said. “He could pitch the ninth now. He’s fine where he’s at. We’ve talked about it. He’s been a big help there. Even in the seventh. Again last night, you look at where he pitched, he had to go through the first three guys, it was a nice luxury to have. Your closer in the eighth inning going against those guys.”
On Monday evening, Melancon pitched the eighth inning and Dyson slammed the door in the ninth against the Milwaukee Brewers as the Giants recorded their first home shutout of the season. Melancon’s appearance came a day after he threw a scoreless seventh inning against Philadelphia, marking the first time he’s pitched on back-to-back days since May 19 and May 20.
The 32-year-old has dealt with a pronator strain for much of the season that’s forced him to the disabled list on two separate occasions, and continues to bother him with each outing.
“I’ve had discomfort every day of this season,” Melancon said last week. “And dating back to 2012, this has been an issue at some point every year. But it’s always subsided. So it hasn’t been an issue, so to speak. It’s something that always seems to subside. But this year, not as much.”
Bochy said previously he’d be reluctant to use Melancon on back-to-back days, but with set-up man Hunter Strickland needing a day off after allowing three eighth inning runs against the Phillies, the Giants stretched out Melancon and he appeared to respond well.
“He seems to have come out of it fine, he’s doing well,” Bochy said. “He’ll be off today but I thought he threw well last night.”
Since returning from the disabled list on August 12, Melancon has logged five consecutive scoreless outings while averaging a strikeout per inning. On Monday, he faced the top three hitters in the Brewers’ order, and navigated through a perfect eighth inning that included a pair of strikeouts.
While the Giants are encouraged by Melancon’s performance on the mound, Bochy understands there’s no reason for San Francisco to push him into higher leverage situations. Even though San Francisco signed Melancon to pitch in the ninth inning, Bochy said it gives the team more flexibility to use him in the seventh and eighth innings as the bullpen attempts to bridge the gap to Dyson.
“Probably keep him where he’s at,” Bochy said. “I just feel like we can make sure we take care of him a little better. If something happens, he doesn’t quite feel right when we get him up. Because we are going to monitor him the rest of the way and make sure he’s okay. Like last night, if he got up and didn’t feel that good, then Cain was going to go back out and it’s a little easier doing that in the seventh or eighth inning than doing that in the ninth.”
Furthermore, Dyson’s performance since joining the Giants in early June has relieved the club of instability in save situations. Over 26 games with San Francisco, Dyson has compiled a 1.98 earned run average while converting 11-of-13 save opportunities.
“No question, it’s made it a lot easier the way Sam is throwing the ball,” Bochy said. “Again, Mark and I have talked about this. He’s good with it. He’s comfortable with it. He’s here to be our closer. That’s what we signed him for. But these are a little unusual circumstances, like I said. It’s just easier to keep an eye on him in the seventh and eighth than it is in the ninth.”
Dyson’s resurgence comes on the heels of a brutal start to the season with the Texas Rangers. After converting 38-of-43 save chances for Texas last season, Dyson blew all four of his save opportunities at the beginning of 2017 and registered a 10.80 ERA over his first 17 appearances before the club designated him for assignment. He’s now thrown five straight innings without allowing a hit, and has given up just a lone earned run in 10 of his last 11 outings.
Clearly, the change of scenery helped cure Dyson’s struggles, but Bochy said that’s not the only reason he looks like a different pitcher.
“A couple things I think,” Bochy said. “A change of scenery sometimes is always good for a player, especially when he gets in a rut. I think that might have helped. But you know, he got a little break there, worked on some things and got his command back. That probably left him there in Texas. I’ve said this so many times, we all have our hiccups in this game and he had one there. We’re fortunate because he decided to sign with us.”
