Barber: Sam Dyson's blown save too familiar to Giants

SAN FRANCISCO

While catcher Nick Hundley was describing The Ninth Inning That Got Away on Thursday afternoon, the Giants’ closer walked away from his locker and exited the clubhouse. Oh well, not much he could have added anyway. Hunter Strickland’s right hand was wrapped in tape, protective measures taken after he blew a save opportunity against the Marlins on June 18 and marked the occasion by assaulting a door.

Strickland is expected to miss six to eight weeks. That’s a problem for the Giants, because they don’t appear to have anyone to take his place.

Thursday’s 9-8 loss to the Colorado Rockies marked the start of the second half of the 2018 season, and the Giants have much to be optimistic about. Despite significant injuries to starting pitchers Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, and more recently to third baseman Evan Longoria, this team is two games above .500. A surprising collection of young or unheralded players has injected life into the lineup and the starting rotation.

The Giants next travel to Arizona for three games against the first-place Diamondbacks, and it has the whiff of an important series. San Francisco is in the thick of the race. It began play Thursday just 4½ games out of first place in the National League West, and just two games out of the second NL wild-card spot.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to take the Giants seriously as contenders - even with Bumgarner healthy and dealing; even with Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez winning games as rookies; and even with Gorkys Hernandez and Alen Hanson playing like All-Stars-in-the-making.

Because to be a true MLB contender, you need someone who can jog out of the bullpen in the ninth inning of a close game, stare down the heart of the opponent’s batting order and save the win. Right now, the Giants have no one who fits the bill.

When Sam Dyson took the mound for the ninth on Thursday, and proceeded to give up a leadoff single to Chris Iannetta and then a two-run home run to D.J. LeMahieu, it represented the 16th blown save of the season for the Giants. That’s not the most in Major League Baseball; the Tigers have 17. But Detroit also has 22 saves, three more than the Giants.

If you look at the ratio of saves to blown saves, the Giants’ 19/16 mark is the worst in the National League, and the second worst in baseball behind Minnesota (17/16).

It’s hard to win consistently when you’re giving away nearly half of your close leads.

The hope entering this year, as it was last year, was that Mark Melancon would be the Giants closer. He led the National League with 51 saves while pitching for Pittsburgh in 2015, and logged a total of 47 the next year while splitting time between the Pirates and Nationals. But Melancon hasn’t been healthy in SF, and therefore has been of limited value. Over the past season and a half here, he has 12 saves and seven blown saves. While racking up those 98 saves in 2015-16, he blew just six opportunities.

Melancon had pronator surgery last September and a stem-cell injection in April. He’s back now. He pitched the eighth inning Thursday and gave up only a couple of pop flies that managed to hit the turf, one for a single by Trevor Story, one for an error on Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford. Each runner was erased at second base by Hundley’s throwing arm.

Melancon even had a save against the Padres on June 21, his first in about a year. But he isn’t ready to become the closer again, because manager Bruce Bochy doesn’t want him to pitch in consecutive games. Melancon’s arm can’t handle that kind of load yet. And you can’t be a major-league closer if you’re available only every other night.

The Giants did have a solid game-ender, of course, even in Melancon’s absence. It was Strickland, who had saved 13 leads and blown four of them in 2018 - an acceptable ratio for Bochy. Alas, Strickland went Manny Pacquiao and recorded an 0-1 record against doors.

Remove Strickland’s numbers and Giants relievers have six saves and 12 blown saves. They’re a safety deposit box with a broken lock. Melancon, Cory Gearrin, Reyes Moronta, Josh Osich, Will Smith and Tony Watson have all gotten at least one crack at finishing a game in 2018.

After the loss to Colorado, someone asked Bochy if he might consider a more important role for Watson, who had closing experience in Pittsburgh after the Pirates traded Melancon. “He’s in the mix,” Bochy said. “But you look at where they were at in the order - with Sam, it was a perfect setup for him. He’s a guy that’s been doing a lot of the closing. Sure, we have options.”

Yes, they do. Just not good ones.

Dyson is the most frustrating of the non-closers, because, after a horrid start, the 30-year old has generally been pretty good. Earned run average is meaningless for relievers, because they’re always inheriting other people’s runners and donating their own runners to the next guy. But by other statistical measures like WHIP (walks + hits per inning pitched; Dyson’s is 1.118), fielding-independent pitching (3.51) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.73), he’s been quite solid.

At least, he’s been solid in middle relief or “hold” situations. As a closer, he has faltered. After Thursday’s meltdown, Dyson owns three saves and four blown saves.

“I’ve done it before. It’s not anything new, so it’s not tough being thrust into the closer role,” Dyson said in front of his locker after taking the loss. “It’s tough when you don’t get it done. But I think anybody who pitches late in the game is pretty adept to handle it.”

I’d disagree. Closers are a breed apart. They are basically whackos who thrive on pressure the way most of us enjoy walks on the beach. They are impervious to loaded bases and pacing managers and opposing fans shouting them down like angry mobs. A lot of good relief pitchers are unsuitable for the ninth inning.

“I think it’s just like any other inning,” Dyson said. “Just go out and execute your pitch, and that’s it.”

Sounds simple, right? But Dyson couldn’t execute those pitches Thursday, and it was the 16th time that’s happened to a Giants reliever this season.

The Giants have surprised us this year. Their reputation as a fun team is safe. Their ninth-?inning leads are not.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter:?@Skinny_Post.