San Francisco Giants Part Ways With Pitcher Yusmeiro Petit, Catcher Hector Sanchez
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Versatile pitcher Yusmeiro Petit, whose brilliant postseason in 2014 helped the Giants capture their third World Series championship in five years, was not offered a 2016 contract by San Francisco on Wednesday and became a free agent.
Catcher Hector Sanchez also was not offered a deal before Wednesday night's deadline and was set free.
Petit set a major league record during 2014 by retiring 46 consecutive batters over eight appearances, six in relief, from July 22 to Aug. 28. The 31-year-old Venezuelan went 3-0 during the '14 postseason, a year after he came close to throwing a perfect game. He became so valuable to manager Bruce Bochy for his ability to start or enter in long relief.
He was the winning pitcher in Game 2 of the 2014 NL Division Series at Washington, a 2-1 victory in 18 innings. The hard-throwing right-hander - San Francisco's seventh pitcher - threw six scoreless innings of relief that night with seven strikeouts and three walks before Hunter Strickland saved it.
"Yusmeiro was instrumental in our 2014 World Series title," general manager Bobby Evans said via text message. "His performance was particularly pivotal in Game 2 in Washington."
Petit moved into the rotation in late August 2014 to replace struggling right-hander Tim Lincecum, then dazzled down the stretch and through his first postseason.
Petit carried a bid for a perfect game into the ninth inning against Arizona before allowing a two-out single to Eric Chavez on Sept. 6, 2013.
This past season, Petit went 1-1 with a 3.67 ERA in 42 appearances and 76 innings with one start.
The 26-year-old Sanchez, who had been Buster Posey's backup catcher, played in only 28 games for the Giants and ended a second straight season injured after a series of concussions kept him out of the 2014 postseason. He spent time on the disabled list with Triple-A Sacramento in 2015 after another series of concussions.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
