Decision to throw glove in trash saved Giants reliever’s season

As reported by Evan Webeck of The Mercury News, Rogers registered his 11th straight scoreless appearance on Tuesday, a streak that started after he decided to toss away his mitt.

The lefty entered the April 12th outing against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers at the start of the top of the sixth inning with the game tied at five. Rogers walked four straight batters to force in a run and departed having thrown 30 pitches (15 balls) and failing to record an out.

After a sacrifice fly and three-run home run from Giants killer Max Muncy, the book was officially closed on Rogers’ outing. The 2021 Minnesota Twins All-Star’s line was horrendous, going zero innings and allowing four runs (all earned) with four walks.

Rogers was saddled with the loss and his ERA skyrocketed to 18.90. Manager Gabe Kapler has stuck with the 32-year-old twin of fellow San Francisco reliever Tyler Rogers though, and the turnaround has been stunning.

“The last time Rogers met with a scrum of media, he had just tossed his glove in the trash. Unlike starting pitchers, who typically answer questions after each game, relievers too often only meet large groups of press when something’s gone wrong,” Webeck wrote. “And for the first two weeks of this season, lots had gone wrong for Rogers, a $33M free-agent pickup, culminating in a disastrous four-run, four-walk outing in a loss to the Dodgers on April 12 that prompted Rogers to find the nearest trash receptacle, a black bin in the corner of the third-base dugout.”

Webeck added that since the “black Rawlings” glove was tossed, he’s thrown 10 scoreless frames and he now has a much more respectable 4.73 ERA.

“I think I just really shook the earth a little bit in that Dodgers game and just threw everything off,” Rogers said, per Webeck. “When you’re a new person somewhere, they just create a narrative and I knew that wasn’t me. So I just grabbed a new Rawlings and started over.”