DENVER — Dominic Leone has held a lot of roles in the Giants’ bullpen since coming up June 1: middle innings, late innings, some matchup situations with runners on base, opener and now magician.
Leone pulled off one of the more unlikely innings for a reliever at Coors Field on Saturday. Down 7-2, the Rockies loaded the bases on a series of soft hits and bloops with no outs in the ninth. Thus, it appeared things could quickly go sideways, as they so often do at Colorado — especially with the heart of the Rockies lineup up. “It doesn’t feel like any lead is safe here,” manager Gabe Kapler said.
Instead, Leone got Brandon Rodgers to tap back to the mound, and Leone flipped home for the force. He struck out Charlie Blackmon, then got the dangerous C.J. Cron to hit a sharp grounder to third, where Evan Longoria had to make a tough play near the line and then a long throw. “One thing that I thought went unnoticed was how easy Longo made that that play look,” Kapler said.
How was Leone’s mind-set throughout? Bases loaded, no outs in baseball’s most notorious park? He said he placed all his trust in catcher Buster Posey. “I definitely would have drew it up differently,” Leone said. “But I felt good; we had a lot of soft contact. That kept me calm. I knew I was making good pitches. I just said, ‘OK, I'm always one pitch away.’”
Leone, 29, is yet another of the under-the-radar additions for the 2021 Giants, signing as a free agent in December after stints with five other teams because he liked what he heard from pitching coordinator Brian Bannister. Bannister had some ideas for getting Leone where he wanted to be — pronating through the ball more, staying closed — and while Leone had to start the season at Triple-A Sacramento, he has turned in strong work, with a 1.62 ERA. .
“The simplicity of it all really made sense to me,” Leone said of his chats with Bannister. “I was like, ‘I can do that.’ Sure enough, the results took off and everything's felt great since.”
Leone is a workhorse, too, like much of the bullpen. He was the first of several pitchers to volunteer to go three days in a row when needed at San Diego this past week. “All those guys have been posting up,” pitching coach Andrew Bailey said, “and when we needed someone in the 10th inning there, I called down to the bullpen and Dom had already requested to go.”
“He’s established himself as someone who can pitch big innings, late innings for us,” Kapler said. “Dom’s been such a critical part of our bullpen; that goes without saying.”
Briefly: Scott Kazmir appears to be an option to start Thursday’s game against Arizona at Oracle Park. It would be eight days between starts for Kazmir, but he’s used to long stretches between games after his Team USA experience this summer, and the gap will help the team set up its rotation the rest of the way and into the playoffs. Logan Webb and Alex Wood will pitch the first two games of the series. ... Darin Ruf (oblique) said he would swing the bat Sunday and expects to come off the IL on Thursday when eligible.
Susan Slusser covers the Giants for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser
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Giants’ Leone becoming a do-it-all stalwart in the bullpen, with a touch of magic, too - San Francisco Chronicle
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