SF Giants' bullpen combines for four scoreless innings in narrow win vs. Dodgers
SAN FRANCISCO - One of the biggest questions looming over the Giants at the start of the season was the bullpen. San Francisco’s brass didn’t invest much into the unit, and while the team had no shortage of intriguing relievers, the general lack of late-game experience couldn’t be overlooked.
This group of relievers has been privy to the criticism. To left-hander Erik Miller, the bullpen has been intent on proving detractors wrong. In front of a sellout crowd on Tuesday night at Oracle Park, San Francisco’s bullpen put together its finest collective effort of the early season in a 3-1 win over the Dodgers.
Five relievers - Ryan Borucki, Matt Gage, Erik Miller, Keaton Winn and Ryan Walker - combined to throw four scoreless innings, protecting a two-run lead and neutralizing the Dodgers’ collection of All-Stars and superstars.
“I think a lot of guys are pitching with a little more of an edge,” Miller said. “Not to quote what I said (in Cincinnati), but it’s maybe a little ‘F you’ on the mound. … I think a lot of guys kind of just wanted to prove ourselves that, I don’t know what they see, but I know and hear and see what people kind of say about us back there.”
Walker, of the five who pitched on Tuesday, unquestionably has the most high-leverage experience, and he looked like the 2024 version of himself to close out the win. After blowing a save on Saturday, the cross-firing right-hander retired the side in order to record his second save of the season.
Four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani, who is slated to start tomorrow’s game, was due up fourth in the ninth and would’ve been the tying run had he come to the plate. Walker stranded him in the on-deck circle, striking out Alex Freeland swinging on a payoff sinker.
“I honestly was so focused in, I didn’t even know what part of the order we were in, I’m not going to lie,” Walker said. “When I got 3-2 and I saw it was Ohtani on deck, I’m like, ‘All right, we’re going to get this done because I don’t want to see that guy in the box.’ There’s no fear there. He’s a good hitter, you have to make your pitches and I didn’t want to make it harder on myself than I had to.”
The credentials of Ohtani, a four-time MVP, and the Dodgers, the back-to-back reigning World Series champions, are well-documented. Walker, though, made one point clear following the Giants’ 10th win of the season: there’s no fear.
“I don’t care who’s on the team. I don’t care who the team pays for. They’re all baseball players,” Walker said. “When you start getting nervous about a team coming in, they’ve already beat you. When the Dodgers come into town or we go to L.A., who cares? It’s another baseball team and we have the same mindset of we’re going to go out there and win.”
Manager Tony Vitello was aggressive in deploying all three of his left-handed relievers against the Dodgers’ left-handed heavy lineup. Borucki pitched the sixth, and Gage recorded two outs in the seventh. Miller, after allowing an infield single to Ohtani, got the final out of the seventh, then got two outs in the eighth before Vitello went to Winn.
Vitello’s deployment of all three lefties could’ve put the Giants in a predicament in the ninth if Ohtani stepped into the box. Walker, however, ensured Ohtani’s night ended without another plate appearance.
“Now that you say it, would have been nice to have a lefty there, with those guys coming around the bend,” Vitello said, “but just, just trying to win and having, you know, having conversations with those guys in the corner.
Before Vitello went to his bullpen, the Giants got five innings of one-run ball out of Landen Roupp, who threw a career-high 106 pitches and grinded through one of his most difficult innings of the season.
Roupp surrendered a season-high five walks, four of which were in the fourth inning. The right-hander’s free passes gifted the Dodgers their only run, but he managed to induce an inning-ending double play and limit the damage.
“For Roupp to grind through that fifth inning, it’s pretty hard to quantify,” Vitello said. “You can use all the fancy analytics you want upstairs. It’s hard to quantify what that does.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the 2025 World Series MVP, allowed three runs in the bottom of the first thanks to several miscues by his defense, but the ace still delivered seven innings while striking out seven batters.
The Giants almost tacked on another run off Yamamoto in the bottom of the sixth when third base coach Hector Borg made an aggressive send, but the move didn’t work in San Francisco’s favor - and left Jung Hoo Lee banged up.
With two outs and Lee on first, Heliot Ramos smashed a single to center field. Lee could’ve easily cruised into third, but Borg didn’t hesitate to wave Lee home. Center fielder Alex Call made a lackadaisical throw back to the infield, but second baseman Alex Freeland threw a strike home to nail Lee with feet to spare.
Vitello said postgame that the wet conditions - rain poured down heavily in the sixth - likely played a role in Borg’s send, along with Call’s lazy throw back to the infield.
“It was definitely ultra-aggressive,” Vitello said. “You got two outs. I mean, I don’t think you really have time to calculate all this - at least I didn’t when I was doing that in that spot - but you got a two-out hit against one of the best pitchers on the planet. How many of those are you going to get?”
Lee awkwardly slid into home plate and banged up his quad, prompting Vitello to replace him with Jerar Encarnacion in the top of the eighth. Vitello did not seem too concerned about Lee, who should be available for Wednesday.
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This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 9:31 PM.