Giants bullpen finally has roles and success

When the Giants and Padres went into the eighth inning tied 3-3 Friday night, nobody had to look into the home bullpen to see who was warming up. George Kontos and Hunter Strickland usually get the seventh (and parts of the eighth if needed), with Steven Okert tossed in when the Giants need a lefty. Chris Stratton is the long man and Neil Ramirez is the wild card usually asked to keep the other team from widening a lead. The relievers, to their chagrin, did not always know when they were going to pitch. [...] to their chagrin, manager Bruce Bochy did not get them a lot of rope. Entering Saturday's game, the Giants bullpen ranked fifth in the NL with a 3.68 ERA. Since an awful first week (6.62 ERA), the bullpen has allowed 15 earned runs in 49 2/3 innings, a 2.72 ERA. The Giants have three blown saves, all on the first trip, two in the 6-5 Opening Day loss at Arizona. Several dynamics are at play, starting with having a closer in Mark Melancon, so Bochy need not worry about setting up his bullpen beyond the eight. Another is having only one left-handed reliever, which prevents Bochy from overdependence on matchups - a sore point last year. [...] Bochy seems to trust his relievers more. Bochy even stuck with Law as his eighth-inning man despite the second-year pitcher's struggles to throw strikes. Law pitched a scoreless 10th to win Wednesday night's game (the Hunter Pence walkoff) and threw a scoreless eighth Friday to keep it 3-3. The Giants can apply those first three days to the 10-day, so he is eligible to return for the May 6 game at Cincinnati. Matt Cain makes his fifth start Saturday night, his first since tweaking a hamstring and getting hit in the foot by a hard grounder in Monday's victory against the Dodgers. A win against the Padres would ensure the Giants their first winning homestand of 2017, at least wins in April and just their second back-to-back victories. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

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Giants Bullpen Finally Has Roles And Success

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Giants Bullpen Finally Has Roles And Success

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