Giants’ lack of roster flexibility on display as skid continues originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
SAN FRANCISCO — Before the start of a big three-game series with the San Diego Padres, Giants manager Gabe Kapler disagreed with the notion that the Giants had hurt themselves by flailing through the easiest part of their second-half schedule. Kapler pointed out that even an easy stretch on paper can be markedly different when you account for when and where you catch a team.
There’s a lot of truth in that, and the Giants are an example. Any team seeing them now is not facing a World Series contender, but instead one of the worst teams in baseball over the last two months.
But in the ninth inning Wednesday, the Giants did face an easier path. Josh Hader is one of the best relievers of the last decade and still throws 98 mph from the left side, but since giving up a walk-off grand slam to Mike Yastrzemski in July, he has been one of the worst relievers in baseball.
Hader entered the day with a 13.35 ERA since the Yaz Slam, with six of those runs coming over the weekend when he recorded just one out against the lowly Royals. He has lost his closer role and hasn’t even been pitching in high-leverage spots for most of his time as a Padre. If you take his reputation and past out of it, he would look like a DFA candidate.
But there Hader was, taking the mound in the ninth inning of a one-run game because the Padres had used Nick Martinez back-to-back days and were out of fresh arms. They gave him a chance, and a Giants team built to exploit juicy matchups had absolutely no cards to play.
En route to 107 wins, Kapler made the “line change” a thing at Oracle Park. He always had multiple right-handed options waiting for someone like Hader, but after Thairo Estrada singled to lead off the ninth, this is how it went: Left-handed hitter with a .280 on-base percentage, left-handed hitter who recently returned from Triple-A because of an injury, backup catcher playing a third straight game because of an injury.
The eighth-inning combo was even wilder. With one out, Evan Longoria pinch-hit for Mike Yastrzemski against lefty Adrian Morejon. Longoria’s hamstring is so compromised that he can’t play third base right now, but he jogged into second when he lined a ball into the left field corner. He was replaced by Austin Slater, who can’t hit because he dislocated a finger on Tuesday, but can run and play defense.
After Wilmer Flores flied out, Kapler had no…