Giants' Clayton Blackburn: Bounces back Saturday

Blackburn started Saturday's tilt against the Royals, firing a pair of shutout innings while striking out three and walking one.

Blackburn was coming off of a rough outing against the Padres on Tuesday, where he surrendered three runs in his two innings of work. Saturday's strong performance brought his spring training ERA back down the 4.50 over six innings. The Giants technically have one starting rotation spot open and two in the bullpen (one as a long man), but Blackburn is considered a long shot to make the 25-man rotation barring an unforeseen injury. Even if he isn't with the big club on Opening Day, the 24-year-old is considered one of the options who are next in line for a call-up, along with Tyler Beede and Ty Blach.