The San Francisco Giants earned a series win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, winning another game due to how the starting pitching performed.
Keaton Winn, just in his second big league season, was lights out for the Giants on Sunday. It was his third straight game of throwing six innings and allowing just one earned run, holding a season ERA of 3.18.
Other starting pitchers have played a huge factor in many wins, including Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison.
The right-handed Hicks has been a reliever for most of his career but is working out of the starting rotation this season. In his first six starts, the 27-year-old has been one of the best starting pitchers in baseball, posting a 1.59 ERA.
In all of his starts, he's been lights out. His ability to keep the ball in the yard has been a benefit, allowing just one home run in 34.0 innings pitched.
Harrison hasn't been as dominant as Hicks and Winn. However, the young left-hander has shown plenty of promise in his second season. He did what was needed against the Pirates in his most recent starting, allowing zero earned runs and striking out seven in 6.0 innings pitched.
While all of them have pitched well, there's a chance they'll pitch the most they ever have. Winn hasn't thrown more than 127 1/3 innings in a season in his professional career, Hicks was a reliever, and Harrison hasn't thrown more than 113 innings.
With all of the injuries in baseball, it's something to keep in the back of the coaching staff and trainers' minds.
According to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, Farhan Zaidi, San Francisco's president, views 180 innings as the "red on the pressure gauge."
Zaidi, according to Baggarly, said that they'll lean on these three pitchers and figure it out when they have more options.
“We all talked at the beginning of spring training with all three pitchers, even before we signed (Blake) Snell,” Zaidi said. “We told them, ‘We’ll lean on you more heavily in the beginning of the year, and as guys come back and we have more options, we’ll figure out where we are.'”
The Giants president seems to understand it could be an issue, which could lead to a move being made to add depth. With all of the injuries in baseball, keeping pitchers healthy has to be a priority for the organization.
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