Melvin explains why Walker now Giants’ closer with Doval in minors

Melvin explains why Walker now Giants’ closer with Doval in minors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Ryan Walker has proven his mettle throughout the season while filling multiple roles out of the Giants‘ bullpen. That’s one reason why manager Bob Melvin opted for the right-hander as the team’s closer after erratic Camilo Doval was optioned to the minors Friday.

“He’s pretty good,” Melvin said before Saturday’s game at Oracle Park when asked what he liked about Walker as the Giants’ closer. “Probably had our toughest role in that he would come in with guys on base all the time, and a lot of times go out for the next inning.”

Walker, 28, has been San Francisco’s most consistent and reliable reliever for most of this season, with a 7-3 record and a solid 2.24 ERA in a major-league-leading 59 appearances. He also has 71 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings.

Doval’s demotion to Triple-A Sacramento came as somewhat of a surprise, even though he has struggled for most of the season. Before being sent down, Doval had a 4.70 ERA in 44 innings to go with five blown saves, including Thursday against the Nationals when he served up a game-tying three-run homer in the ninth inning.

The Giants hope Doval can reclaim some of his control while down in the minors and return to the form that made him an All-Star with an NL-leading 39 saves last season.

Meanwhile, Walker will try to tighten up the back end of games without disruption to the rest of the Giants’ bullpen.

“It’s about trying to keep Tyler [Rogers] and some of the other guys in their roles,” Melvin said. “We do have [Jordan] Hicks that we’ll probably use a little bit differently now that he’s in the bullpen, and just go with a really, really good arm in the closer role for now.”

Walker has one save in his career, on Aug. 23, 2023 against the Philadelphia Phillies. He has been credited with 21 holds this season and pitched more than one inning eight times.

Melvin indicated that he’s comfortable using Walker for longer than one inning if needed, but he’d prefer to have his bullpen setup tay the same.

“Tyler’s pretty good in the eighth,” Melvin said. “If there was a day we didn’t have Tyler and I needed to go four outs or something like that, yeah, for sure.”

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