The San Francisco Giants earned a series victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday and won another game thanks to their good starting performance.
Keaton Winn, just in his second big league season, was a scorcher for the Giants on Sunday. It was his third straight game in which he pitched six innings and allowed just one earned run, for a season ERA of 3.18.
Other starting players have played big roles in many of the wins, including Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison.
The right-handed hitter Hicks has been a reserve player for most of his career but is not in the starting lineup this season. In his first six starts, the 27-year-old was one of the best starters in baseball with a 1.59 ERA.
In all of his starts he was completely excited. His ability to keep the ball in the yard was an asset, allowing just one home run in 34.0 innings pitched.
Harrison wasn't as dominant as Hiccup and Winn. However, the young left-hander showed a lot of potential in his second season. In his last start against the Pirates, he did what was needed by allowing zero earned runs and striking out seven in 6.0 innings.
Even though they all pitched well, there's a chance they'll hit the most pitches they've ever pitched. Winn didn't throw more than 127 1/3 innings in a season in his pro career, Hicks was a reliever and Harrison didn't throw more than 113 innings.
With all the injuries in baseball, it's something the coaching staff and coaches should keep in mind.
According to The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly, San Francisco president Farhan Zaidi considers 180 innings to be “red on the gauge.”
According to Baggarly, Zaidi said they are relying on these three pitchers and will figure it out when they have more options.
“We all talked to all three pitchers at the beginning of spring training, even before we signed (Blake) Snell,” Zaidi said. “We told them, 'We're going to rely on you more at the beginning of the year, and when the guys come back and we have more options, we'll figure out where we are.'”
The Giants president seems to understand that this could be an issue that could lead to moves being made to add more depth. With so many injuries in baseball, the health of pitchers must be the organization's top priority.
