Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
The relentless pounding of his fastball can give off the appearance of a machine, with bolts and wires attached to a cannon for an arm. But Jake McGee proved to be human Saturday.
The lefty de facto closer had been nearly perfect for the Giants, pitching 7 1/3 scoreless innings in which he allowed one hit entering play, but the Marlins were waiting for his heater.
Handed a 5-3 lead in the ninth at LoanDepot Park, the first three batters he faced lined singles, jumping on fastballs early in the count that McGee could not get far enough up in the zone. With the game at 5-4 and the tying run at second, McGee bounced back to retire Jon Berti and Corey Dickerson, which prompted a face-off with Friday’s hero, Starling Marte.
His first pitch to the outfielder and 24th in total — he said the pitch count was not getting to him — he wanted back.
“I wanted to go up higher with that with Marte, especially you know he’s going to be swinging early,” McGee said after Marte jumped on a fastball in the middle of the plate for a game-tying single up the middle. “It sucks getting that close. To get two outs and first-pitch single right there — I gotta make a better location early in that at-bat.”
That would be his final run allowed, but it took 35 pitches to escape the ninth and send the game to the 10th, in which Jorge Alfaro would hit the game-winning double off Jarlin Garcia in the 7-6 Giants loss.
The 34-year-old McGee has blown games in his career, and coughing up one after six successful saves is not devastating, as much as it must hurt in the moment.
“We’re disappointed in the outcome of the game, but nothing has changed from a standpoint of us knowing that Jake is the right guy for these opportunities,” Gabe Kapler said after the Giants dropped their second straight game in Miami.
Making it easier for McGee to stomach is the fact he has a pretty simple diagram of what went wrong: He was not locating his fastballs high enough in the zone. He virtually only threw fastballs — 33 four-seamers — but couldn’t dot the top rail like he did in his first eight games with the Giants.
“When I got ahead, I just wasn’t really locating as well as I have in the past,” said McGee, who ended up allowing two runs on four hits and a walk in the frame. “I was pulling too many pitches down in the zone, giving them more of a chance.”
The Giants are happy with their closer, but Kapler acknowledged he will have to check on him Sunday, and McGee may have to be down a few days after an outing that wouldn’t end. The manager may have to stay away from McGee and Tyler Rogers, who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings Saturday in his ninth appearance in 14 games, as the Giants close out the Marlins series and open one in Philadelphia.
“It’s still fairly easy to turn the page,” McGee said. “I would say it’s always amnesia — always turning the page. And if you can figure out and pinpoint what went wrong and why it went wrong, you’ll have something to work on.”