SAN FRANCISCO — Tony Vitello had to wait four games for his first celebratory beer shower, which felt like an eternity for the new Giants manager. Daniel Susac’s wait was a little over a week. He didn’t start a game until the Giants began their first series of the year, but he was so good last Thursday that he was rolled into the showers with Blade Tidwell, who was celebrated for his first save in his fifth big league appearance.
Matt Gage has had to be more patient. A lot more patient.
Gage’s big-league debut came eight years after he was drafted, and by that time he was on his fourth professional organization and had experienced a stint in the Mexican League. He finally got the call from the Toronto Blue Jays on June 6, 2022. Once again, he was told to wait.
The Blue Jays played in Kansas City that night and the game was delayed by such steady rain that Gage’s teammates asked for it to be postponed. They played on, and when the bullpen phone rang at midnight of a blowout, one of Gage’s fellow relievers said he could have the inning if he wanted it. At 1 a.m. that night, Gage got his first big-league beer shower, a celebration of his debut.
Four years later, he got another one. This time, he was a winner in the big leagues for the first time. It came 12 years after the Giants took him in the 10th round of the draft.
Gage got two big outs in Wednesday’s 5-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies and then turned it over to Caleb Kilian, another reliever who had to go elsewhere before pitching for the Giants for the first time.
Tidwell and Erik Miller closed it out, giving the Giants back-to-back home shutouts for the first time since 2018. Gage, all 260 pounds of him, got squeezed into a laundry cart.
“It was a relief,” he said, smiling. “It started with beer and then I smelled a little ketchup and then it ended with some hot sauce and some BBQ sauce. And the hot sauce got in my eyes.”
Gage never will experience a better stinging sensation, but he wasn’t the only one exhaling on Wednesday.
The front office took a big risk over the winter and built this bullpen around players like the ones who shut it down Wednesday. Gage is 33 years old and two days away from reaching a year of service time, but the Giants felt he could be a weapon against lefties and righties. Kilian was sent away in the Kris Bryant trade in 2021 and returned as a hard-throwing reliever who thus far has looked like he can handle the seventh, eighth or even ninth. Tidwell is an electric young starter who might be best able to contribute this year as a reliever. Miller has dealt with injuries, but he was up to 99 mph on Wednesday.
It’s not a star-studded group, or a particularly well-compensated one by MLB standards. One Giants reliever joked this spring that it would be the cheapest bullpen in baseball, that’s probably true. On Sunday and Monday, that looked like it might be the downfall for the 2026 Giants.
The bullpen blew leads on back-to-back days but bounced back with strong performances Tuesday and Wednesday while backing Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle. When Rafael Devers hit a three-run blast Wednesday, the relievers had another lead to hold. The Giants soon had a series win.
“I mean, it’s a long season. You’re going to have your ups, you’re going to have your downs,” Gage said. “Yeah we got blown out twice but you’re always going to have a tomorrow — until the last day of the year. That’s the way it’s going to be.”
The Giants did a lot right over the final 18 innings of the homestand. Their starting pitching was dominant, and early on, the group has looked like it could be one of the most reliable in the NL when healthy. The lineup is starting to come around after averaging 2.6 runs per game over the first 10, and the front office always has believed that would be the unit that leads this team.
The bullpen has been the biggest question mark, and on Monday night, it sure looked like a huge mistake to not address it in the offseason. Two days later, it was easier to feel optimistic about the future.
The biggest outs Wednesday came not from Gage, but from Kilian, who was tasked with facing the top of the order in the seventh after Gage gave up a one-out single. It was an interesting decision since the left-handed Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper were due up. Vitello had two more lefties in his bullpen, but went with Kilian, who hasn’t given up a run in six appearances.
Kilian walked Trea Turner to bring the tying run to the plate and then struck out Schwarber on a diving curveball. Harper bounced a slider to second, ending the inning.
“My approach right now is pretty much just to attack everyone with my best stuff,” Kilian said. “It doesn’t matter who it is.”
Vitello said last week that Ryan Walker, Keaton Winn and Miller made up his late-game circle of trust, but the goal is for it to be a much larger group, and soon. He has not named a closer and doesn’t intend to anytime in the near future.
The new manager talks often about how every reliever should be able to take on every role, and while that’s often just talk with MLB managers, it appears to be the way he really intends to go about this season.
Walker has been used earlier in games than usual, and against tough hitters. Miller was supposed to close it out Tuesday, but when the Giants tacked on, Winn got the call. Tidwell just got here but already has a three-inning save and a notable eighth-inning hold. It’s been unpredictable, to say the least.
“Pretty much whenever you get the call, you’ve gotta be ready to go,” Kilian said.
Vitello’s ideal bullpen isn’t this. He has talked a few times of the 2014 Kansas City Royals, who choked the life out of games with Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland.
This is a group that’s still finding an identity and is a long way from established roles. But Vitello believes he has a bullpen full of guys with the stuff to get through the late innings, and most importantly, full of guys who want to show they can do it. They’re proving that one beer shower at a time.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Gage said, laughing. “It’s fun. It’s fun to finally have another decision by my name other than a loss. Having an actual win next to my name is pretty nice.”
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