HEADLINE

Giants leave postseason veteran Johnny Cueto off NLDS roster

Field Level Media

October 08, 2021 at 8:04 pm.

The San Francisco Giants opted to leave veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto off the 26-man roster for the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Giants submitted their roster Friday with 12 pitchers, but omitted the 35-year-old Cueto. The best-of-five series begins Friday night in San Francisco.

Cueto has made eight postseason starts in his career. He is 2-4 with a 4.54 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings.

Cueto was part of the 2015 Kansas City Royals, who defeated the New York Mets in five games in the World Series. He was stellar in Game 2 of that series as he tossed a complete-game two-hitter in a 7-1 win over Jacob deGrom.

His most recent postseason start came for the Giants in 2016. Cueto took the loss as the Chicago Cubs’ Jon Lester outdueled him in a 1-0 decision in Game 1 of the NLDS. He gave up one run on three hits and struck out 10 in eight innings.

The two-time All-Star was 7-7 with a 4.08 ERA in 21 starts and one relief appearance this season. He was sidelined most of September due to a right elbow injury and returned on Sept. 30 to make the relief outing.

Cueto is 135-97 with a 3.45 ERA in 14 campaigns with the Cincinnati Reds (2008-15), Royals (2015) and Giants.

The Giants opted to go with six outfielders — partly due to their heavy use of pinch hitters. That meant Alex Dickerson and Steven Duggar both made the roster while backup middle infielder Thairo Estrada missed the cut.