Giants' limited bullpen options put Vitello in tough spot

LOS ANGELES -- Giants reliever Philip Abner endured a nightmare outing at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

The 24-year-old left-hander became the first Giants pitcher to surrender four home runs in a single inning since Alan Embree on May 20, 2001, resulting in a decisive series-opening win for the Dodgers.

One day later, Abner found himself back on the mound for another high-leverage spot for the Giants. Abner again faltered, allowing Los Angeles to score three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and pull away for a 10-4 win on Saturday night.​

“Kind of what we’ve got going on right now is finding out what you can and can’t do,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said. “If I’m in [Abner’s] position, I’m dying to get back out there and see what I can do. I’ve had several guys come in the office, and we’ve had that conversation before. It would have been nice to get out of the fifth inning. Maybe we come up with a different plan.”

With the game tied at 4, Vitello opted to lift starter Yunior Marte and bring in Abner to face the left-handed-hitting Josue De Paula with runners on first and second with two outs. But the move backfired, as Abner subsequently walked De Paula on five pitches to load the bases for Tommy Edman.

The switch-hitting Edman followed with a go-ahead single to left field that knocked in Teoscar Hernández from third. Giants left fielder Turner Hill then fired an errant throw to the plate that got away from catcher Andrew Knizner, permitting Kyle Tucker to slide in safely and extend the Dodgers’ lead to 6-4.

Pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas kept the rally going with another RBI single that bounced past third baseman Shay Whitcomb and rolled into left field, though Hill helped Abner avoid further damage by making a perfect throw to nail Edman at the plate and finally end the inning.

Vitello explained afterward that he decided to summon Abner because he was the only left-handed reliever the Giants had available on Saturday. Reiver Sanmartín landed on the 15-day injured list with a right oblique strain before the game, and the club wanted to preserve Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson, who will start Sunday’s series finale against the Dodgers.

The Giants reinstated Sam Hentges off the IL to replace Sanmartín on the roster, but they preferred to stay away from him since he was coming off a left forearm strain and made his lone rehab appearance with Triple-A Sacramento on Friday night.

“We just needed to get one out,” Vitello said. “It’s our only lefty in the bullpen, and we needed to get one out. Other than our two guys that we want to finish the game with [Dylan Smith and Trent Harris], you saw everybody we had available.”

Was Dodgers manager Dave Roberts surprised to see Vitello turn to Abner at that point in the game?

“I was, but I’m sure that Tony has his reasons,” Roberts said. “But yeah, I guess he probably wanted to get him back out, and get him back on the horse.”

The Dodgers later padded their lead by tacking on another three runs in the sixth against right-hander Joel Kuhnel. The only Giants pitcher who was unscored upon on Saturday was right-hander Duncan Davitt, who worked 2 1/3 clean innings in his San Francisco debut.

The bullpen implosion overshadowed the Giants’ promising offensive showing against reigning back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, who was tagged for four runs over five innings.

Rookie outfielder Victor Bericoto accounted for much of the damage against Skubal, launching a two-run, game-tying blast to straightaway center field in the third inning before doubling and scoring on another two-bagger from Jung Hoo Lee in the fifth.

“Just really comfortable,” Vitello said. “It seems like the heightened sense of competition, if that’s fair to say -- which it is with Skubal -- it seems like [Bericoto is] that much more locked in and that much more aggressive, at least with his mentality. He was able to draw a walk [in the first inning]. To drive a ball over Tucker’s head the way he did [in the fifth] was maybe not quite as impressive as the homer to center, but it’s not something many guys can do, especially off the pitcher he did it off of.”