The Giants are at that stage of the season where the focus starts drifting toward next year and the jobs that still need filling. For Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson, the path forward is starting to look a lot like the one Yusmeiro Petit once carved out in San Francisco.
Wilkinson turned in what was arguably his best outing of the year on Sunday, blanking the Los Angeles Dodgers over five innings. That performance pushed his ERA down to 3.65 and only strengthened the case for him as a possible long reliever or spot starter - the kind of pitcher who can bridge innings out of the bullpen or give a team five frames when a rotation spot opens up.
That role matters over a 162-game season. Starters miss turns, get scratched, or get hurt, and clubs need someone who can slide into whatever job is available. Wilkinson’s value comes from that flexibility.
The comparison to Petit makes sense beyond the role itself. Neither pitcher is built around overpowering velocity.
Wilkinson’s fastball sits around 90 miles per hour, which is roughly where Petit lived for much of his career. The formula is similar too: throw strikes, work the edges, get weak contact, and keep the damage down.
That approach held up for Petit for a long time. He pitched 14 big league seasons, including four with the Giants, and made 90 appearances for the club, 21 of them starts. In 245 and 2/3 innings with San Francisco, he walked just 52 batters.
Petit also left behind a few unforgettable moments in orange and black. In 2014, he delivered six scoreless innings in extra innings as the Giants outlasted the Washington Nationals in the 18-inning Game 2 of the NLDS.
And in 2013, he came close to a perfect game when Hunter Pence nearly made an unbelievable diving catch for the 27th out. He remains one of the more underrated players from the dynasty era.
Buster Posey saw firsthand how useful a pitcher like that can be, and it’s easy to imagine him thinking along the same lines with Wilkinson.
If Wilkinson can keep building on this and settle into that Petit-style lane as a long reliever and swing man, it would give the Giants a real weapon. They still need to strengthen the starting rotation this offseason, but having a pitcher who can cover innings and step into a start when necessary would be a major asset.
In Other News...
Giants Fans Know This Deadline Regret May Not Be Baseballs Worst Anymore
For Giants fans, the old ache around the Zack Wheeler deal has long been part of the deadline memory bank, a reminder of how quickly a promising arm can get away before the return fully arrives. But around the league, the conversation has shifted a little, because some of the most widely discussed deadline swings of recent years have made that regret feel less singular and more like part of a larger pattern of front offices chasing immediate help at the expense of long-term value.
The 2021 swap that sent Pete Crow-Armstrong from the Mets to the Cubs for Javier Bez and Trevor Williams is one of the moves drawing fresh scrutiny, especially with the Mets now facing the possibility that it may age worse than the Wheeler trade ever did. Add in the Athletics trade of Jess Luzardo to the Marlins for Starling Marte, and the deadline starts to look like a place where the price of urgency can linger for years, even if the full damage only becomes clear much later. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Leave LA With A Dodgers Problem They Need To Answer
The Giants headed out of Los Angeles having run into the same kind of trouble that has dogged them all season against the Dodgers. A 3-1 loss finished off a three-game sweep for the home team, with Emmet Sheehan giving Los Angeles a steady lift in long relief and Enrique Hernandez delivering the go-ahead double in the seventh inning.
Tommy Edman added a home run as the Dodgers stretched their winning streak to four, while San Francisco was left to sort out a familiar divisional problem after another frustrating night. For a club trying to keep pace in a crowded race, the issue is not just the result of this series but the way it exposed the gap they still have to close. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Get One More Look At A Lineup That Suddenly Matters
The late-season setting at Oracle Park gives the Giants another chance to see how their lineup responds with October races tightening elsewhere around them, even if the opponent is no longer playing for a postseason berth. Minnesota arrives for the final road series of its season with right-hander Zebby Matthews on the mound, while San Francisco counters with right-hander Blake Tidwell in a game set for 8:45 p.m. CT.
For the Twins, the trip is about getting through the final stretch after being eliminated from contention, but for the Giants it is another useful look at a lineup that has suddenly become more important to the bigger picture. The matchup will be available on TwinsTV and NBC Sports Bay Area, with both clubs using one more night at Oracle Park for different reasons, even if the larger stakes now belong to the home side. [Read more 🡒]