John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Tyler Beede made his return to a major league mound after a surgery that comes with no guarantees, after a long process of working his way back and an especially long rehab assignment.
His control has not fully returned yet, though, and his major league life was brief.
On Sunday, the Giants optioned the righty after his inning a night prior and recalled Caleb Baragar before the last game of the first half.
Beede consistently fell behind batters and allowed three runs against the Nationals on Saturday. Of his 28 pitches, just 13 were strikes. Beede will continue to search for command with the River Cats and represents a wild card for their rotation — whose depth is shallow — if he can find it.
“We just want him to go and start every fifth day and continue to get his reps and work on his mix,” Gabe Kapler said before the Oracle Park matchup with Washington on Sunday.
Beede had pitched 35 2/3 innings with Sacramento and walked 32, flashing good stuff but poor command. On Saturday, his fastball maxed out at 97.4 mph, which is encouraging, as were the four swings and misses — three on his changeup.
“He’s going to need to throw more strikes,” Kapler said after the 10-4 Giants win. “He got a couple of punch-outs today, but Tyler knows, we all know that in this league, falling behind and being in three-ball counts is just dangerous.”
LaMonte Wade Jr. returned to the lineup and was set to play first base after a hand sprain had kept him out since Wednesday. Still, Kapler said they would monitor Wade, who was scratched Friday in place of Darin Ruf.