Sergio Romo pitched in 515 regular season games plus another 27 postseason appearances in his nine-year Giants career. With the Dodgers and Rays, Romo has pitched in another 73 games. All have been out of the bullpen.
That changes on Saturday.
Rays manager Kevin Cash announced Thursday that Romo will start Saturday against the Angels. Romo is set to pitch the first inning and possibly the second, too.
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"The way that their lineup stacks generally speaking is very heavy right-handed at the top," Cash explained to reporters. "It allows us in theory to let Sergio to come in there and play the matchup game in the first, which is somewhat unheard of – up until Saturday anyway.
"Then Yarbs can, in theory, have the availability to get deeper in the game. There's no more secret about the third time through the order, everybody knows that. And that's kind of what this is about."
The last time Romo started a professional game was in 2017 while rehabbing with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in Single-A. Romo has started 28 games in the minor leagues.
"I'll tell ya this, Sergio Romo's really excited about it," Cash said Friday morning on MLB Network Radio. "He might be the most excited of anyone on the team or in baseball. When I told him, he was jumping around like crazy... he was pumped."
