and 4-0 after eight.

There’s a legitimate argument that the games mean nothing to the Giants (in fact, winning might endanger their draft position, and they clearly know how to draft better than, say, the Reds), but it’s not as if the game was 7-0 after three.

And 21 of those pitches were in the ninth inning, 33 in the last two innings.

So there’s a case for pulling him—at home, with a shutout and a 3-0 lead—after seven because he’s thrown 105 pitches and your bullpen should be able to hold a 3-0 lead. But it’s very dependent on both of those assumptions, and not the way to bet at home if you want anyone coming to the ballpark the next day.

There’s a stronger case after the eighth, obviously; once you’ve let him start the ninth, you pretty much leave him in until the shutout is ended. But by that time, you’re already at 117, and the previous inning was a lesson in efficiency.

Yes, it’s ridiculous to “let” him throw 138 pitches—but there’s really no point in the sequence (without knowing in advance that the ninth is going to be a 21-pitch nightmare) where you can take him out of the game without a small but positive chance of having 31,000 people (well, reality was probably closer to 17K, but the NL decided to join the AL in lying about their attendance several years ago, so…) causing a 7-0 win to turn into a 9-0 forfeit.