The Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants have exhausted their bullpens in a two-day pitchers’ duel that’s lasted 27 innings Thursday, Friday and even spilling over into Saturday morning.
Thank goodness each has yet to fire its big gun.
Colorado left-hander Kyle Freeland and San Francisco lefty Madison Bumgarner are scheduled to get the ball Saturday afternoon when the National League West rivals make a quick turnaround from Friday’s 3-2, 18-inning marathon win for the Giants.
In Major League Baseball’s longest game of the season, Brandon Belt doubled and scored the winning run when Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta was deemed to have pulled his foot off home plate on a potential force play that resulted from Erik Kratz’s one-out grounder in the last of the 18th.
The 5-hour, 35-minute contest, the Giants’ first extra-inning game of the season, was extended an additional minute when the Rockies challenged the call at the plate. A short video review confirmed that Iannetta had pulled his foot.
Counting the shutout work done by both bullpens in the series opener Thursday, which was won 1-0 by the Giants, the teams have combined to use 23 relievers in the two games. Cumulatively, they have pitched 25 1/3 innings, allowing one run — Saturday morning’s game-ender — on just nine hits.
Both Freeland (1-2, 5.40) and Bumgarner (0-2, 3.32) are coming off subpar efforts that should have them well rested for Saturday’s head-to-head.
Freeland, a 17-game winner a year ago, barely got through the fifth inning Monday in an 8-6 home loss to Atlanta. He was bombed for seven runs and seven hits in five innings.
Rockies manager Bud Black is not expecting a repeat performance Saturday.
“Kyle’s fastball was a little too elevated (and) his fastball command to right-handers wasn’t what we normally see,” Black noted to reporters before Friday’s game. “He has a great knack of self-correcting.”
Freeland allowed four or more runs on four separate occasions last season. He responded well, throwing a combined 26 innings in his next start, allowing a total of five runs.
Bumgarner also was off his game in his start Monday against San Diego, allowing five runs in six innings.
He will be pitching Saturday in the wake of a Fox Sports report that the Philadelphia Phillies have been scouting the two-time 18-game winner for a possible trade.
The timing of the report was consistent with comments made by Giants chief decision-maker Farhan Zaidi earlier in the week.
Having dealt for Kevin Pillar and Tyler Austin in the past two weeks, Zaidi insisted to reporters that he wants “some stability and continuity on the roster.”
The seemingly inevitable Bumgarner deal could produce such stability, rather than allowing rumors to float over the team up to the trade deadline.
Coincidentally, the veteran pitcher applauded the deal for Austin earlier this week, telling reporters, “He’s a good player and that’s a big pick-up for us.”
The right-handed-hitting Austin likely will be in the lineup against Freeland, who has gone 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA in his career in eight starts against the Giants.
Buster Posey and Evan Longoria have career homers against the 25-year-old.
The Rockies likewise have a pair of players who have had success against Bumgarner, as Trevor Story (three) and Nolan Arenado (two) have combined for five homers in their career against the former World Series Most Valuable Player.
