Mark Melancon put on DL, Dan Slania called up

On Tuesday night, Mark Melancon was excellent. He struck out two, and they weren’t ambiguous strikeouts. He embarrassed each of the hitters with a sharp breaking ball and looked like the pitcher the Giants were expecting all season. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Melancon is hurt.

So it goes for the 2017 Giants, who are in the middle of one of the longest winning streaks of the season. There is no timetable for Melancon’s return.

To take his place on the 25-man roster, the Giants are calling up Dan Slania, a large rectangle of a man who struggled in Sacramento this year, but pitched better after returning to Double-A. Slania had a nine-game stretch in which he allowed at least four runs in every start, and he’s had problems with his control, walking 4.6 batters for every nine innings pitched in Triple-A. He’s struck out 20.5 percent of the batters he’s faced this year, which is roughly average.

In short, he’s here because he’s on the 40-man roster, and the Giants needed someone. Joan Gregorio is on the DL with a back injury, Reyes Moronta hasn’t pitched since June 2 with an injury, Chris Stratton threw four innings on Tuesday, and Tyler Beede threw eight innings on Monday. So unless the Giants wanted to move someone to the 60-day DL or designate someone for assignment, Slania was their only option.

Edit: Forgot about Derek Law because I’m not used to him being in the minors. I’m assuming they’d rather not mess with whatever he’s working on down there?

Until Melancon comes back, apparently Sam Dyson will be the closer.

This season, man. This season.