Walker's injury opens seamless return for Giants' closer Doval

Walker's injury opens seamless return for Giants' closer Doval originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

CINCINNATI — In the opener, the Giants saw what can happen when you’re without your closer. Their comeback win in the ninth inning came against a Cincinnati Reds team that was without injured closer Alexis Diaz.

Three days later, Bob Melvin was without his guy, so he turned to a setup man who was an All-Star two years ago. Camilo Doval breezed through the ninth, picking up his second save since he was pulled from the ninth inning and sent to Triple-A last August. Closer Ryan Walker was unavailable for the final two games of the Reds series because of back pain.

“We’re lucky to have that dynamic, someone who has pitched in that role before and been successful before,” Melvin said. “If ever you can withstand something like that, it’s having a guy like Duvey that everyone feels confident in.”

The Giants are hopeful that Walker will be available Monday night in Houston. He felt discomfort after saving Thursday’s game, but he was said to be feeling much better on Sunday.

Without Walker, and with Randy Rodriguez having pitched in the first two games, Melvin turned to Lou Trivino for the seventh and then saved Doval to follow Tyler Rogers. Doval returned to the ninth by striking out Reds star Elly De La Cruz on a nasty slider down in the zone. After Heliot Ramos’ diving catch in left, he got a game-ending grounder to second.

Doval is coming off a good spring, one in which he threw more strikes and did a better job of paying attention to the small details on the mound. Melvin said all spring that you never know what can happen over the course of a long season, and while the Giants didn’t expect to need a second closer on the first weekend of the season, they certainly have a nice backup plan.

Ray’s Day

For five innings, Robbie Ray was perfect. He wouldn’t make it out of the sixth, and he ended up taking a line that didn’t at all represent how good his stuff was.

Ray was charged with three earned in 5 1/3 innings, but he felt good about his fastball command, his slider was sharp, and he was able to use his changeup as a different look. He even dropped in a perfect curveball to get a strikeout in the third inning.

It was the only curve Ray threw all day, and he said he initially shook when catcher Sam Huff put the sign down. It was the right call, though, and showed off what Ray believes is his first true four-pitch repertoire since 2021, a season in which he won a Cy Young award.

“This is probably the most I’ve felt like I’m being a true four-pitch pitcher,” he said.

The trouble came after Ray was hit with a pitch clock violation that he disagreed with. He felt he started moving toward the plate before the clock hit zero, but as he tried to make sense of it all, former Giant Austin Wynns hit a two-run homer. Ray said later that the sequence was “frustrating.”

In his Giants debut last July, Ray pitched five no-hit innings. While Melvin said he doesn’t start thinking about historic feats until about the seventh, Ray was well aware of the fact that he didn’t allow a baserunner until the top of the sixth, and he knew Nick Martinez was briefly doing the same thing on the other side. The innings were quickly melting away.

“Guys say they don’t know,” he said, smiling. “You always know.”

Shutting Them Down

The Reds didn’t get a chance to test Huff, who mostly caught perfection and then watched two homers leave the yard. Patrick Bailey took over in the ninth and didn’t see a baserunner, either.

That led to what was the most impressive stat of the weekend. The Giants somehow got out of Cincinnati without a single rain delay, and also without allowing a stolen base to a team that was third in the big leagues last year with 207.
The Giants had a pair, with Jung Hoo Lee stealing second on Saturday and Tyler Fitzgerald boldly taking off for third on Sunday. He was initially ruled out but replay determined that he was never tagged and a sacrifice fly brought him home.

“Pretty slow times to the plate (there) so we were pretty confident he could do it,” Melvin said of Fitzgerald.

The Giants want Fitzgerald to run more, and the second baseman always has the green light. He was hesitant late in Saturday’s game and ended up getting wiped out by a double play, but that was against a reliever who was about 1.2 seconds to the plate, making it much more difficult. The swipe on Sunday should be a nice boost of confidence.

As for the rain, the tarp was on all morning Sunday and went right back on after the final pitch. It rained most of the evening and there were thunderstorms and tornado warnings in the Cincinnati area, but the Giants were already well on their way to Houston.

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