The Giants¡¯ bullpen competition continued to thin out before Friday¡¯s 5-5 tie with the Cubs at Sloan Park.

Non-roster invitees Yunior Marte and Jimmie Sherfy were reassigned to Minor League camp, cutting the number of players in big league camp to 34 with less than a week to go until Opening Day.

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi anticipates tough decisions ahead to determine who will round out the Giants¡¯ bullpen, but another right-hander, Nick Tropeano, appears well positioned to carve out a role as a long reliever or swingman. Tropeano, 30, made his third Cactus League start and sixth appearance on Friday, giving up two runs on three hits over two innings.

? A look back at camp as '21 Giants take shape

¡°I feel good,¡± Tropeano said. ¡°Throughout the years, I know that you can¡¯t really worry about some things you can't control. You¡¯ve got to put yourself in a good position to make them make a hard decision. I think I put myself in a pretty good position. Knock on wood, and we'll see what happens.¡±

Tropeano, who has logged a 2.70 ERA over 10 innings this spring, isn¡¯t overpowering on the mound, but he¡¯s had success by tweaking his pitch usage to incorporate more of his secondary weapons, his slider and splitter, in recent years. Joc Pederson accounted for all of the damage against Tropeano on Friday, crushing a fastball out to right field for a two-run shot in the first inning.

¡°It¡¯s a difficult lineup to get through,¡± manager Gabe Kapler said. ¡°I thought Trop did a nice job navigating it. Location wasn¡¯t perfect, but he did a nice job executing his pitches when he needed to. With respect to roster considerations, I¡¯m not sure that this outing in particular had any significant impact, but what I¡¯ll say is his body of work has been good. He¡¯s put his best foot forward and done a nice job for us overall.¡±

Jake McGee, Matt Wisler, Jos¨¦ ?lvarez and Jarl¨ªn Garc¨ªa are viewed as locks for the bullpen, and Tyler Rogers, Reyes Moronta and Tropeano are looking like solid bets to be part of the group as well. Caleb Baragar and Wandy Peralta have options, so the final spot could come down to non-roster invitees like Dominic Leone and Zack Littell, who each tossed a scoreless inning against the Brewers on Thursday night.

¡°Littell continues to develop his split as a weapon,¡± Kapler said Thursday. ¡°He¡¯s been up to 97, so good velocity. He threw a good top-shelf fastball tonight. He's been very consistent throughout camp. He's really made a case for himself. And Leone has been as good. Both of those guys are having great camps.¡±

Slater heating up
Outfielder Austin Slater homered for the third consecutive game on Friday, launching a three-run shot to center field off Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks in the second inning. Slater, 28, is now batting .409 (9-for-22) with four home runs -- tied with Evan Longoria for the team lead this spring -- over 10 Cactus League games.

¡°I feel great,¡± Slater said. ¡°I'm pretty happy with the results so far, especially being able to do it off righties. My timing feels really good, locked in. I feel like I'm swinging at the right pitches. The power is something that comes and goes, but I'm just glad that the process and the decision-making is there right now.¡±

Slater emerged as a breakout hitter for the Giants in 2020, but he suffered a right elbow strain last August that prevented him from playing the outfield over the final month of the regular season and limited him to designated hitter duties. He received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his elbow over the offseason and arrived at Spring Training healthy, though he ended up missing a couple of weeks early in camp with mild hamstring tightness.

¡°That's probably my biggest goal this season, stay healthy, stay on the field,¡± Slater said. ¡°I felt like I could have done more for us [in 2020]. We were so close last year, and I felt like I could have contributed a little more had I been able to stay healthy.¡±

Slater drew most of his starts against lefties last year, but he¡¯s now trying to show that he can be more than a platoon bat and do damage against righties as well. The Giants are certainly starting to take notice, which could allow Slater to get into the lineup on a more regular basis this year.

¡°It's really hard to deny that Slater is having equally good at-bats against right-handed pitching as he is against left-handed pitching,¡± Kapler said. ¡°Around this time last year, our hitting group identified Slater's ability to be not just exclusively a platoon player. We have such a high-quality mix-and-match roster at the plate, with a bunch of left-handed bats and a bunch of right-handed bats. It may turn out that he sees more of his reps against left-handed pitching. But there's no denying that he's producing power, seeing pitches and working good at-bats against both lefties and righties right now.¡±

Worth noting
? Kevin Gausman, who was named the Giants¡¯ Opening Day starter on Wednesday, will make his final outing of the spring during a simulated game at Scottsdale Stadium on Saturday rather than travel to Peoria, Ariz., to face the Mariners in Cactus League action.

¡°At this point now, it's going to be pretty much their Opening Day roster, so it didn't make much sense for me to face them and then face him again five days later,¡± Gausman said Thursday.

Left-hander Alex Wood (back stiffness) is also expected to pitch one inning in the simulated game on Saturday.

? Kapler said Longoria (plantar fasciitis) will make his first start at third base on Saturday night. The Giants had been trying to keep Longoria off his feet throughout camp to minimize the stress on his foot, but the 35-year-old veteran has been able to establish his timing at the plate by taking at-bats at the DH spot.

Up next
Non-roster invitee Scott Kazmir will make his second Cactus League start on Saturday night, when the Giants head to Peoria Sports Complex to face the Mariners at 6:40 p.m. PT. Fans can watch the game for free on MLB.TV or live on MLB Network.