Rodón strong, but Giants 'pen woes continue

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants were four outs away from matching their longest winning streak of the year, but their slumping bullpen ultimately couldn’t shut the door.

Pinch-hitter Jake McCarthy’s two-out, two-run single off Dominic Leone in the eighth inning lifted the D-backs to a 3-2 win on Wednesday night at Oracle Park, ending the Giants’ winning streak at five.

San Francisco took a 2-1 lead into the eighth following a masterful performance from left-hander Carlos Rodón and a pair of solo shots from LaMonte Wade Jr. and J.D. Davis, but the D-backs rallied against Leone after Christian Walker singled and Stone Garrett doubled to put runners on second and third with one out.

Cooper Hummel followed with a fly ball that was too shallow to score the tying run from third, but Leone couldn’t escape the jam after the left-handed-hitting McCarthy came off the bench and lined a single to right field to plate both runners and put the D-backs ahead, 3-2. McCarthy was thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Leone was one of the Giants’ most trusted relievers last year and maintained his back-end role by logging a 2.45 ERA in his first 31 appearances of the season, but he’s hit a rough patch over the past six weeks, recording a 9.24 ERA over his last 16 games.

“I think in this particular game, he had a hard time executing his slider below the zone,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “I think I just focus on tonight’s outing because I thought overall he threw more strikes. But he was unable to execute his slider where he wanted it to go, and as a result, two guys put some decent swings on him.”

The Giants’ bullpen led the Majors with a 2.99 ERA in 2021, but the group has proved spottier this year, tumbling to 26th in the league with a 4.42 ERA. Over the past two months, Kapler has struggled to find dependable late-inning options outside of right-hander John Brebbia, who leads the Majors with 56 appearances this year, and closer Camilo Doval.

Doval was fully rested after sitting out the first two games of this series, but he didn’t end up making an appearance after Leone allowed the Giants’ one-run lead to slip away. Did Kapler consider bringing in Doval for a four-out save in the eighth?

“It was a consideration,” Kapler said. “It was one of those things where we need to have confidence with everybody in our bullpen. Camilo Doval cannot handle the load for the entire bullpen all year. We have to have everybody contribute, and we trust these guys to do so.”

The loss dropped the Giants 5 1/2 games behind the Padres for the third National League Wild Card spot and spoiled a gem from Rodón, who struck out 11 over six innings of one-run ball despite dealing with a headache early in the game.

Rodón had struggled to a 7.36 ERA in his first two starts of the year against the D-backs, but he managed to neutralize their plucky lineup with his electric fastball-slider combination on Wednesday, racking up 19 swinging strikes in the 106-pitch outing.

“I thought that [catcher] Austin [Wynns] and I worked really well today,” Rodón said. “My slider was good. That’s a pretty patient team. Facing them in the past, they usually lay off the spin a lot. I think we presented a little better today to get some more swings on it. It worked effectively.”

The D-backs scored their lone run against Rodón in the fourth, when Garrett, who was making his Major League debut, delivered a game-tying RBI double to right field. Rodón was tested again in the sixth after Arizona loaded the bases with two outs, but he managed to get Jordan Luplow to swing through a slider for his final strikeout of the night, letting out a roar as he bounded off the mound.

Rodón, who ranks third in the Majors with 179 punchouts, now has seven double-digit strikeout games this season, the most by a Giants pitcher since franchise icon Tim Lincecum in 2010.

“Timmy was a legend,” Rodón said. “He was really, really good throughout his career. I guess it’s pretty cool. Timmy was very good at this game. Hopefully I can be as good as Timmy.”