{"id":648,"date":"2026-06-13T21:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T21:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=648"},"modified":"2026-06-13T21:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T21:33:10","slug":"in-rare-knbr-interview-brian-wilson-breaks-down-sf-giants-closer-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=648","title":{"rendered":"In rare KNBR interview, Brian Wilson breaks down SF Giants closer woes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Giants haven\u2019t had a bona fide closer this season and sure seem to be suffering from their bullpen uncertainty. So who better to ask about the ninth inning than the closer who saved the first World Series clincher in San Francisco history?<\/p>

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Three-time All-Star closer Brian Wilson made a rare appearance on KNBR\u2019s \u201cMurph and Markus\u201d morning show on Wednesday, as the Giants continue to have trouble in the ninth inning. The man known as \u201cthe Beard\u201d was the team\u2019s closer from 2007 through 2012, which most famously saw him save Game 5 of the 2010 World Series to win the Giants\u2019 first title since they moved from New York to San Francisco in 1958.<\/p><\/div>

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Giants\u00a0president of baseball operations Buster Posey declined to pursue a veteran closer this offseason and defended that decision in a KNBR interview three weeks ago. But since then, the lack of a consistent closer has only looked worse, as the Giants have blown three ninth-inning leads en route to losses in the past two weeks.<\/p><\/div>

The general baseball belief is that the last three outs of a game are the toughest and require guys with nerves of steel to handle the job. Javier Lopez, Wilson\u2019s old teammate and a longtime middle reliever, made that point in a separate KNBR interview on Wednesday. Wilson, though, pushed back at that premise and didn\u2019t really play along with the hosts\u2019 inquiries.<\/p><\/div>

\u201cSome people might say the first three outs are pretty difficult, too \u2014 the umpire\u2019s new zone, the crowd, the adrenaline,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI think every inning, if we\u2019re being real, in the big leagues is a little bit of a heart palpitation. There\u2019s no easy inning, in my book. I think the perception of it being the hardest three outs could play a role in one\u2019s mindset, for sure.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

Wilson said some of his hardest innings were actually when he came into games in the eighth inning with runners on base and had to pitch the team out of a jam. He said he thinks \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of glory given in the ninth inning\u201d because of how exciting it is to end the game.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cBeing a professional athlete takes a different mindset of problem solving, and I think that\u2019s what a closer\u2019s role is,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWhether you have it or not that night, you\u2019ve got to problem solve with the best of them. So it can create a pretty big, high adrenaline kind of moment where you\u2019ll see a lot of guys have sort of an act or these yelling, aggressive-type moments because your heart is racing at 165 beats per minute.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

Wilson also weighed in on a topic that came up on Monday, when de facto closer Keaton Winn pitched in his third game in a row and blew his second save in that stretch. NBC Sports Bay Area analyst Shawn Estes sharply criticized Giants manager Tony Vitello for putting Winn back out there for a third day in a row.<\/p><\/div>

Wilson is no stranger to the regular usage life \u2014 in his peak closing years from 2008 to 2011, Wilson pitched in three consecutive games 12 times and even pitched in four consecutive games three times. Wilson said he was able to do this because he approach the job prepared to pitch every single day.<\/p>

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\u201cI didn\u2019t really have any built-in days off, so I would come to the park ready. Sometimes, it would be an \u2018if necessary\u2019 night, like, \u2018Yeah, you pitched three days in a row, we want to give you the night off. But if the game\u2019s close and we need you, you\u2019re going to pitch,\u2019\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThere were stretches where I may not have pitched in the game, but I got hot like 95% of each month.<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cIt does take a toll on you. But again, if you\u2019re a professional athlete, you\u2019re the elite of the elite. You have to figure out how to get it done. Each person\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

So how does one develop into being a closer? Hilariously, Wilson claimed he moved to the bullpen because he didn\u2019t want to \u201cdo the bucket\u201d during batting practice. For most non-MLB teams, the previous day\u2019s starting pitcher will sit at a bucket behind second base during batting practice, collecting the balls that are thrown in from throughout the outfield and then carrying the bucket to the pitcher\u2019s mound to restock the supply.<\/p><\/div>

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