HOUSTON — Before Tuesday’s game, a Giants reliever turned to a small group in the clubhouse and jokingly asked if anyone had escaped the stomach virus that's knocked out so many members of the Mexico City traveling party. During it, a position player stood on the field, felt a wave of nausea pass through, and briefly wondered if he would have to ask Gabe Kapler to replace him.
It's been a rough couple of days for many Giants, and Kapler was limited with his lineup options against the Houston Astros because so many players are sick. But Anthony DeSclafani made sure that nobody else had to do any heavy lifting on Tuesday.
DeSclafani allowed just three hits over eight innings, handing a 2-0 lead to Camilo Doval, who closed out the game with an assist from catcher Joey Bart. The Giants snapped a four-game losing streak behind a resurgent right-hander who has issued just three walks in 38 innings and lowered his ERA to 2.13.
"It was really, really impressive," Bart said. "He was all over the zone. He's been like that every start, and especially tonight, going through that lineup. It was attack, attack, attack. He's pitching with a lot of confidence."
DeSclafani is also pitching like the ideal Giants starter at the moment. The Giants have made "pound the zone" their identity, so much so that it's on t-shirts worn by members of the coaching staff. Earlier Tuesday, Sean Hjelle was demoted to the minors because he hasn't thrown enough strikes, and that will be the key for any young pitcher looking for a promotion at any level under Farhan Zaidi, Kapler and Co.
The big league staff currently is led by three pitchers who are living the plan. DeSclafani leads the NL in walk rate and Alex Cobb and Logan Webb rank second and sixth, respectively. After the game, Kapler summed it up succinctly: "You limit walks, you miss bats, you win baseball games," he said.
DeSclafani threw 109 pitches, including 70 strikes, and consistently got ahead of hitters. While the first two Astros hits were doubles, the third came with two outs in the eighth, when he was already above 100 pitches and a Yainer Diaz liner caught his leg. When Kapler came out to the mound with a trainer, he knew he wouldn't be calling for his closer.
"That was the best I've seen his eyes," Kapler said of DeSclafani. "He was ready, he was definitely taking that hitter. It was nice to see that conviction. He was basically telling us, 'I've got this.' It was pretty impressive."
DeSclafani gave most of the bullpen the night off, but Doval had an odd moment while trying to close out the win. Bart came out for back-to-back mound visits with two outs and a 3-2 count to dangerous designated hitter Yordan Alvarez. There was a miscommunication, and with the pitch clock running down on Doval, Bart wisely used the Giants' final mound visit to keep Doval from being called for an automatic ball.
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A violation would have put a runner on for Jose Abreu, but Doval finally got the pitch in, throwing a 101 mph cutter past Alvarez. That enabled the Giants to laugh about the moment and promise to be better the next time, and made a winner of DeSclafani, who didn't feel like he had great stuff early on but threw enough strikes that he was still out there in the eighth.
"I knew some guys weren't feeling good. It's been a long trip," he said. "I wanted to go deep regardless, but I think it's a plus with some guys not feeling good."