Brubaker to start for Giants on Friday

Perhaps it’s only fitting that Houser would turn in one of his strongest starts of the year against the club that made him a second-round pick back in 2011. The 33-year-old veteran allowed just two hits and one walk, but was forced to settle for a no-decision after San Francisco’s bullpen coughed up the lead following his departure. He’s operated in a swingman-type role for the Giants over the last few weeks and made his first traditional start in nearly two months. He’s under contract through next season, so it makes sense for San Francisco to keep rolling him out there over the final six weeks. He’ll get the ball for his next outing against the Guardians on Wednesday.

Brubaker got the call to close out Tuesday’s contest against the Astros in the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He induced three groundouts to retire all three batters for his second save of the season. The Giants’ save situation has been largely in flux all season, making it difficult to rely on any reliever for saves. There doesn’t appear to be a consistent option emerging anytime soon.

Houser struck out four batters on the evening while allowing one base on balls. The lone tally against him came on an RBI single off the bat of Zach McKinstry with two outs in the second inning. Aside from that, Houser was brilliant. He generated five swings and misses on 82 offerings in the ballgame, posting an underwhelming CSW of 23 percent. Now 3-7 on the season, he’ll tote a 4.55 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and a 65/31 K/BB ratio (97 innings) into Wednesday’s tilt against the Astros.

Mahle, who is on a one-year, $10 million deal, is 3-9 with a 5.13 ERA for the season, but he has been solid of late, amassing a 3.79 ERA in his last seven turns. Molina is a fringe 40-man roster guy, so this is mostly a salary dump for the Giants. The Giants still figure to trade Robbie Ray, too, and they just lost Trevor McDonald for the rest of the season, so things could get ugly with their rotation the rest of the way. Most likely, Adrian Houser will slide back in as a starter, assuming that no other team wants to take on his contract.

Brubaker was summoned in the top of the eighth with a three-run lead. He gave up a solo homer to Kyle Karros before returning for the ninth to close it out. He got the job done with a strikeout and two groundouts, securing the win for the Giants with his first save. Caleb Kilian was presumably unavailable after pitching in back-to-back games, but he will likely get the next save chance.

Houser has really struggled through his first 14 starts on the season, posting a 5.73 ERA, 1.58 WHIP and a 48/25 K/BB ratio over 66 innings. Any fringe fantasy value that he may have had in deeper mixed leagues or NL-only formats evaporates on this news. That means that Trevor McDonald will remain in the Giants’ rotation going forward.

Houser’s 29-pitch first inning saw him give up a long homer to Drake Baldwin and another run on a Mauricio Dubón hit. Because it was such a short outing, the Giants could try putting Houser back into the pitching mix in a couple of days, if they see the need. If they stay with the current rotation, he’d pitch Sunday in Miami.

It’ll be resumed on Wednesday afternoon in the second inning. The rain kept falling throughout the early stages of this contest at Truist Park and both teams waited through a nearly two-hour rain delay before the plug was finally pulled. Giants starter Adrian Houser allowed two runs in his lone inning of work while Atlanta’s Grant Holmes was charged with three runs over two innings. It’s also worth noting that Drake Baldwin launched a legendary 473-foot homer in his return from the injured list prior to the delay.

Houser surrendered a two-run homer to Luis García Jr. in the first inning. He settled in for three scoreless frames, then gave up a triple with one out in the fifth. That would be it for Houser at 77 pitches. The inherited runner would come in to score. He struck out six. The 33-year-old right-hander will take a 5.54 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, and a 46/24 K/BB ratio across 65 innings into a start against the Braves in Atlanta next Tuesday.

Houser allowed one run in four innings before giving up a double, a homer and another double with one out in the fifth. The Giants didn’t trust him to get through the inning at that point, denying him a chance to qualify for the win. It’s the third straight outing in which Houser has failed to complete five innings, and he remains 2-5 with a 5.49 ERA overall. He’s due to make his next start Tuesday against the Nationals.