No warmup? No problem for Doval in 4-out save

MIAMI -- It had been more than a week since Camilo Doval made his last pitching appearance, but he didn’t expect to be pressed into action as quickly as he was in the Giants’ 4-3 win over the Marlins in Monday night’s series opener at loanDepot park.

The All-Star closer hadn’t thrown a single warmup pitch in the bullpen when he found out he’d be entering the game to face pinch-hitter Nick Gordon with the potential tying run on first and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Manager Bob Melvin had wanted to bring in Doval for that precise situation, but his request wasn’t relayed properly due to a “communication mess up” with assistant pitching coach J.P. Martinez, who was filling in with bullpen coach Garvin Alston away from the team for personal reasons.

Martinez had been preparing Taylor Rogers to face the left-handed-hitting Gordon, but the veteran southpaw made it only halfway to the mound before he was forced to turn around and jog back to the bullpen once Melvin signaled that he wanted to bring in Doval instead.

Despite the confusion, Doval managed to quickly get loose and lock in after rushing to the mound. He coaxed a groundout from Gordon to end the eighth and then returned to the mound in the ninth and worked a scoreless inning to convert the four-out save, his second of the season.

“I still don’t know what happened,” Doval said in Spanish. “But I’m always ready when they need me. When the phone rings and my name is called, I transform.”

Marlins manager Skip Schumaker wasn’t happy with the way the chaotic scene unfolded and argued that Doval should have been charged with a pitch clock violation as he took longer than usual to get out to the mound.

“Guys make mistakes in calling different arms,” said Schumaker, who was later ejected for continuing to argue. “I've got no problem with the mistake or whatever it was. I don't care about that. I care about what happened after that. At the very minimum, it should have been 1-0.”

“Skip wanted a pitch violation, but there was no violation because [Doval] got checked out in [the warning track], and when he came in, he stopped throwing at 50 seconds,” home-plate umpire Laz Díaz told a pool reporter after the game.

Melvin said he was impressed with the way Doval managed to keep his cool -- and his stuff -- considering the unusual circumstances.

“I thought it was unbelievable, and I told him that,” Melvin said. “That can mess you up a little bit. Not only having to do it and come in and get the big out in the eighth, then to have to go back out in the ninth and keep your composure like that, I can’t be more impressed.”

Doval hadn’t pitched since April 7, but the Giants finally found themselves in a save situation after their bats came alive late Monday.

The Giants trailed, 3-1, following a dominant start by right-hander Edward Cabrera, but they erased the deficit by rallying for three runs against Miami’s bullpen in the seventh. Thairo Estrada doubled and Mike Yastrzemski drew a walk off George Soriano to put runners on the corners for Patrick Bailey, who lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to cut the deficit to one.

Nick Ahmed kept the rally going with a walk, prompting Schumaker to bring in Andrew Nardi for a left-on-left matchup with Jung Hoo Lee. Lee fouled off three consecutive two-strike pitches before stroking the seventh pitch of the at-bat -- a 2-2 fastball -- to the opposite field for a game-tying single.

Wilmer Flores capped the big inning with a pinch-hit go-ahead single to center field, giving the Giants their first lead of the night.

“There’s no heartbeat with Wilmer,” Melvin said. “There certainly isn’t any stress. Gets behind in the count right away and doesn’t try to do too much. Just trying to find the outfield grass with the line drive and did it. We always feel really good when Wilmer is up there in big spots. I’ve been on the other side of it for years. That’s not a guy I want up there in that situation if I’m on the other side.”

The comeback resulted in a win for left-hander Kyle Harrison, who allowed three runs over six innings in his third quality start of the year. Harrison gave up eight hits, including a solo home run to Avisaíl García that kicked off a three-run third for the Marlins, but he put up zeros the rest of the way to give the Giants a chance to claw back.

“He gave up a three-spot and pitched well after that,” Melvin said. “He just made a couple of pitches that got the middle of the plate, but he’s maturing out there. He didn’t let it bother him. He went out there, he had good stuff from the get-go.”