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SAN DIEGO -- Camilo Doval admitted that he was a bit surprised when he looked up at the scoreboard after closing out the Giants’ 1-0 win over the Padres on Monday night at Petco Park.

After retiring Juan Soto and Manny Machado, Doval put an exclamation point on his 15th save of the year by striking out Josh Bell on a 102.9 mph cutter that tied Brian Wilson for the hardest-thrown pitch by a Giant since the pitch-tracking era began in 2008.

“When I threw the pitch, I looked back at the scoreboard and saw it was 103 mph,” Doval said in Spanish. “I was like, ‘I hope the radar gun is correct.’”

The 25-year-old closer has brought the heat since debuting with the Giants in 2021, but he’s added a new weapon to his electric arsenal this year. Doval began messing around with a sinker during Spring Training and finally felt comfortable enough to start throwing the pitch in games just before the All-Star break.

“I practiced it a lot,” Doval said. “I didn’t want to throw it until I perfected it and I could control it.”

The results so far have been promising. Hitters are 2-for-17 with seven strikeouts in at-bats that end with Doval’s sinker, which is averaging 98.4 mph this year. Part of what makes the new pitch so effective is that it looks like his slider coming out of his hand. Doval explained that his sinker will move in to right-handed batters, while his slider will dart away from them.

Forty-five of Doval’s 58 strikeouts this year have come on his slider, but the Giants felt he’d become overly reliant on his breaking ball at times in the past. The sinker should help further diversify his pitch mix and give him another devastating offering to help neutralize hitters -- even those as accomplished as Soto, Machado and Bell.

“It’s just got so much late bite that guys can’t time it up,” catcher Joey Bart said. “They can’t really see it deep. They feel like they’re on it and it’s swooping under their barrel. And then he comes in and he says, no, I want to throw a four-seam at 103 with some cut on the black. That’s not fun hitting. I faced him a few times. I’m glad I’m on the other end of it.”