Dereck Rodriguez likely knows that he is pitching for a spot in the Giants rotation every time he takes the mound. But the pressure is especially on now that Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija are nearing their returns from injury.
If it’s bothering him, he sure has a funny way of showing it. Rodriguez was stellar Saturday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, shutting down the NL West leaders over six-plus innings and helping the Giants clinch the series in a 7-0 win.
While Rodriguez was excellent, the Giants’ offense took some pressure off him by putting some early runs on the board. Brandon Crawford started the scoring with a solo home run to right in the second, but the Giants really broke through in the third, plating four runs and sending nine batters to the plate. After loading the bases with three singles, Brandon Crawford walked to force in a run, Pablo Sandoval’s ground ball up the middle just barely got past diving D-Backs shortstop Ketel Marte for a two-run single, and Joe Panik drove a sacrifice fly all the way to the center field wall to score Crawford.
Andrew McCutchen and Joe Panik each tacked on a solo home run to give Rodriguez some insurance.
All told, Rodriguez lasted 6.1 innings, holding the D-Backs to just six hits and no runs, lowering his ERA to 3.16 in the process. Ty Blach and Cory Gearrin combined for 2.2 innings of shutout relief to seal the win.
With Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez both turning in stellar starts against Arizona, Bruce Bochy’s decision regarding which starter to send down is getting more difficult by the day. It will be hard to justify sending either young starter down, especially for Samardzija, who has an ERA of 6.56 in 2018. If current trends hold, Chris Stratton will likely be sent down first, but it will be interesting to see what the Giants do when both Cueto and Samardzjia are fully healthy and ready to return.
The Giants moved to 3.5 games back of Arizona with the win.