Gabe Kapler put Nick Pivetta into Sunday night’s game, whose strategy of “fastballs down the middle” failed hard enough for the Giants to knock in the winning runs. Bruce Bochy had gone to the bullpen early in this in, causing raucous carnival music to start playing in Kapler’s head, so this was a game in which bullpens would be emptied, match-ups would be considered, and references to “chess” would be made by the broadcasters.
Once more, Kapler got to make a bunch of bullpen decisions that made you either shrug or question his sanity. And because the teams went to their bullpens early, that meant some relievers would get to hit.