San Francisco Giants NLDS Game 4 Bullpen Collapse Inevitable

The San Francisco Giants’ shaky bullpen was always going to be their downfall. Their meltdown in last night’s NLDS Game 4 was the culmination of an ugly past month.

The San Francisco Giants‘ season came to a screeching halt last night, and it’s hardly surprising that their bullpen was the main culprit. Three outs away from forcing a decisive Game 5 against the favored Chicago Cubs, five Giants relievers combined to allow four runs in the top of the ninth inning to hand their opponent a 6-5 victory and a ticket to the NLCS.

San Francisco could not have asked for anything else from starter Matt Moore. The lefty, acquired in a midseason trade from the Tampa Bay Rays, did his best Madison Bumgarner impression, allowing two runs (one earned) over eight innings while striking out 10. Armed with a 5-2 lead heading into the ninth, it seemed like even the Giants bullpen, which had been a weak point late in the year, would safely secure the win and send the series back to Wrigley Field for a winner-take-all finale.

But if Giants relievers had any goal last night, it was apparently to remind people of just how bad they had been down the stretch. Derek Law, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo – the first three out of the bullpen – all failed to record an out in the ninth inning. Ben Zobrist doubled off Romo to plate the first run of the frame. Will Smith then took the ball and proceeded to serve up a game-tying, two-run single to Willson Contreras.

Jason Heyward bunted into a fielder’s choice but advanced to second on a throwing error by Brandon Crawford. Hunter Strickland was brought in next and gave up a single to Javier Baez that scored Heyward as the go-ahead run. David Ross then grounded into an inning-ending double play, but the damage was already done and the collapse complete.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy struggled to find a reliable bullpen formula for much of the campaign. Veteran right-hander Santiago Casilla was the closer for most of the season, notching 31 saves. He blew nine chances, however, which eventually led to his removal from the role in September. Bochy never really settled on a primary replacement, mixing and matching various guys for save opportunities. Don’t count former relief pitcher and current Astros broadcaster Mike Stanton as a fan of the committee approach:

The Giants bullpen amassed a league-high nine blown saves in September/October. Their shakiness in the late innings played a significant role in the team’s second half swoon, which nearly cost them a spot in the postseason entirely.

Casilla was conspicuously not called upon during last night’s debacle, a decision which has earned Bochy some second-guessing the day after. (Buck Showalter can relate.) Casilla is certainly no Zach Britton, though, and given his woes in recent weeks (5.87 ERA in September), it’s hard to fault the Giants skipper too much for not using him. It would have been hard for Casilla to do much worse than his bullpen colleagues, however.

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The issue was in the makeup of the bullpen itself. While there are always exceptions to a pattern, successful clubs take care of business at the back end. It’s hard to find many teams in recent years that advance far into the postseason without at least a dependable closer to lock down the ninth inning. Of all the clubs still alive in the 2016 playoffs, only the Blue Jays had a bullpen ERA outside the top 10.

The Giants attempted to address their need for relief pitching at the trade deadline by acquiring Will Smith from the Brewers. Although he performed well enough after the move (2.95 ERA, 12.8 K/9 in 18.1 IP), he has never done much closing in his five-year big league career and didn’t really ever get a look in the ninth inning by Bochy.

Should San Francisco have tried harder to acquire a frontline reliever like the one sitting in the opposite dugout from them in the NLDS? Hindsight is 20/20, and you can argue that the Giants wouldn’t have had the pieces to compete with a team like the Cubs to get an Aroldis Chapman.

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The need is clearly there, however, and the franchise will have to think long and hard about it in the months ahead. Last night’s meltdown will certainly make it difficult to forget.