Krukow believes Blach, Stratton duo will be big surprise for Giants

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Between the Giants' first three starters in their rotation, Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija have logged 4,698.2 innings and have combined for 795 starts in the big leagues. 

The leaders for the next two spots in the rotation are juniors to these Giants. In two seasons, Ty Blach has pitched 180.2 innings in the bigs and has started 26 games. Chris Stratton has only seen 68.2 innings and made 10 starts in 2017. 

To Mike Krukow though, these two don't have to be work horses of yore to be successful in San Francisco. 

"Look, with the way the game's evolved, you don't expect them to go out there and get 200 innings out of them," Krukow said Thursday on KNBR. "You expect them to go out there and go through the lineup twice.

"Whether it's four, five or six innings, that's their job. And both Ty Blach and Stratton are more than capable of that." 

Blach and Stratton came into spring as the leaders for the No. 4 and No. 5 spot in the Giants rotation. With prospects Tyler Beede and Andrew Suarez competing to show they belong, Blach and Statton have done everything to keep them away. 

Through three starts, Blach has only allowed one earned run over 8.1 innings pitched, good for a 1.08 ERA. The lefty will never blow batters away, but he has struck out nine and is yet to walk a batter this spring. 

Stratton has made two starts and appeared once out of the bullpen halfway through spring training for the Giants. Over eight innings, the right-hander has allowed one more run than Blach and has a 2.25 ERA. He has 11 strikeouts and three walks thus far. 

"I like the fact that those guys are in that spot [No. 4 and No. 5]. I think that those guys will be a nice surprise for this club," Krukow said. 

If they keep throwing like this, soon it won't be such a surprise, but more of an expectation just like the trio ahead of this young duo.

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