SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin said left-hander Blake Snell looked good during his bullpen session Saturday morning but added that the club would wait to see how the two-time Cy Young Award winner responded before determining the next step.
“We’ll see how he feels afterward and what’s next for him,” Melvin said before the Giants played the Los Angeles Angels at Oracle Park, “but he seems to be progressing, throwing all of his pitches, kind of an up and down type thing today with a simulated inning after he got loose.
“We’ll talk about later what’s next for him.”
Melvin said that if Snell feels good, the next step could be another bullpen session or facing some hitters. A rehab start before he rejoins the Giants’ rotation is also an option.
“He’ll need to do something, whether it’s facing hitters or a simulated situation or one game, he’ll need to do something where he’s facing hitters in a game-like situation,” Melvin said.
Snell was injured in the Giants’ June 2 game at home against the New York Yankees and was placed on the 15-day IL the next day with a left groin strain.
Snell, the reigning National League Cy Young winner, signed a two-year, $62 million contract with the Giants as a free agent on March 27. So far this season, though, he is 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA in six starts for San Francisco.
MELVIN ON HARRISON: Left-hander Kyle Harrison is slated to start Sunday’s series finale against the Angels and will be looking for his first win since May 18. In his last four starts, Harrison is 0-2 with a 4.84 ERA, although in that time, he has just three walks to go with 19 strikeouts.
In 14 starts this season, Harrison, in his second big league season, has thrown a combined 77 1/3 innings, second on the Giants pitching staff behind Logan Webb (92 1/3 innings).
Asked about Harrison’s maturity, Melvin said, “He’s pretty steadfast in what he wants to accomplish. Now you’re going to go through some highs and lows and some games are going to be efficient, some of them are not, but he’s trying to go out there every day and get deep in the game.
“That’s been kind of his mindset from the very beginning.”
Harrison threw just 77 pitches in 6 1/3 innings in his last start on Monday against the Astros, allowing just four hits and one earned run in a 4-3 Giants win.
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“Once you get him X amount of starts into a season, you have to do some things differently,” Melvin said. “You’ve got to make some adjustments on the mound. Certain things are going to work on a particular day and not on another, and from start to start, working on what you think the deficiencies are, and I think he’s been great about that.
“It really kind of all came together last start for him where his command was pretty good with all three of his pitches.”
TRANSACTION: The Giants acquired catcher Logan Porter from the Kansas City Royals for cash on Friday. Porter was assigned to Triple-A Sacramento.