MLB managers have to trust their instincts, and that's what manager Gabe Kapler did during the Giants' 13-6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday at Oracle Park.
Alex Wood wasn't sharp against the Phillies, allowing six hits and six runs (four earned) in the first three innings of the game. He had thrown just 75 pitches and the Giants' offense had managed to score six runs themselves.
So if Kapler had wanted to try to get one more inning out of Wood, he likely could have done it.
Instead, Kapler decided he didn't want Wood to face Rhys Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper -- the heart of the Phillies' lineup -- in the fourth inning. Dominic Leone took over and retired those three feared hitters in order.
The three-inning outing was Wood's shortest of the 2021 season.
"He definitely wanted to go back out and save our bullpen one inning of work, and at that point, and I shared this with Woody, I didn't think he was the best option to get the next three hitters out," Kapler told reporters on a video conference call after the loss. "That's the main reason you go to another pitcher. It doesn't mean I don't believe in Alex Wood to take down the next inning for us and potentially save a couple outs for our bullpen. I do believe in him to do that. At that point, he just wasn't as effective as he can be and I didn't think he was the best option for us."
Wood, who admitted after the game that it was one of those days where he simply didn't have it, lobbied to stay in the game. His sales pitch didn't work, much like the 75 pitches he threw to the Phillies.
"Obviously I never want to come out of a game," Wood said on a video conference call. "I'm a competitor and I want to compete after you give up runs in the first three innings ... I felt I could have gone another inning or two, for sure. But Kap's job is to manage our team to the best of his ability, to try and win a ballgame. And it was a tie ballgame and he felt like covering six innings with our bullpen, we had a better shot of winning the game than of me running back out there for an inning or two.
"That's his job, so you respect his decision. I'm still going to fight to go back out there to try and grind it out. That was the decision he made and I respect that ultimately, even if I don't agree with it."
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Kapler's decision initially worked as Leone and Jimmie Sherfy each pitched scoreless innings. But Jarlin Garcia ran into trouble in the sixth and allowed two runs. An inning later, Connor Menez was tagged for four runs, ultimately sealing the Giants' fate.
Wood knew it wasn't his day, and staying in for one more inning wasn't going to change that. Kapler could sense his starter was struggling and made the right decision for both the player and the team.
Wood will get a chance to redeem himself next Saturday when the Giants host the Athletics in the second game of the Battle of the Bay series.
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