SAN FRANCISCO – Hayden Birdsong’s rapid rise has stalled in recent weeks.
But with just a few extra days of rest, the rookie right-hander made it through on Thursday, even when it was not enough for the Giants (72-75) to win their playoff game against the Brewers (84-62).
Birdsong, 23, went five innings without allowing a run, however the Giants' offense left their bullpen no room for error, resulting in a 3-0 loss. They lost for the seventh straight time Birdsong was on the mound, but for the primary time, he can't be blamed.
“He really needed that,” manager Bob Melvin said of Birdsong, who hadn't lasted five innings since July 27, the team's last game win without him.
“It was nice to be in the (strike) zone from the first pitch to the last,” added Birdsong, who hit a season low by issuing only one free pass.
Just two weeks ago, the identical opponent knocked him out of the sport with five runs within the fourth inning, which was representative of most of Birdsong's second half. He allowed 4 walks in 3⅔ innings, one in all five appearances since July 27 wherein he allowed three or more batters to walk, and one in all six appearances with fewer than five innings.
On Thursday, it was a special story in front of twenty-two,184 fans – the smallest crowd of the season – as Birdsong efficiently pitched five innings, throwing just 68 pitches as he held the Giants' bullpen to a scoreless tie, with 11 of the 17 batters he faced (64.7%) starting with strikes on the primary pitch.
“You could see he was putting his fastball in the zone,” Melvin said. “Good run, good speed. The further he got, the more confidence he gained. So it was a big accomplishment for him to give us five like that.”
While Birdsong posted a 2.45 ERA in his first six major league starts, he threw 60.7% strikes on the primary pitch. In his previous six starts, he posted a formidable 8.76, and Birdsong hit the strike zone on just 46.7% of his first pitches.
It made a major difference. Through Thursday night, 24 of Birdsong's 35 walks had come after he was down 1-0 and batters had an OPS of .910. When Birdsong took the lead, opposing batters' OPS dropped to .642. Funnily enough, his only walk on Thursday got here after William Contreras struck out on the primary pitch.
“Obviously I had a walk,” Birdsong said. “But that didn't bother me at the time because I was all in the game. That's all I really wanted to do. I want to keep doing that and keep showing that I can pitch five (innings) and more. Today I was really happy with what I did.”
In an ideal world, the right-handed rookie's progress would have been rewarded with a win.
Instead, the Giants were treated to the complete range of Camilo Doval's experience within the seventh inning.
Doval got ahead of the primary batter of the inning, Willy Adames, but then missed the strike zone 4 times, putting him on one base. He flashed his strikeout prowess to strike out Gary Sánchez and lessen the threat, but then he completely missed Curt Casali's glove, not once, not twice, but thrice.
Doval allowed the Brewers to attain the sport's first run without putting the ball in play, using a walk and three wild pitches as an alternative. Jackson Chourio prolonged the lead in the following inning with a two-run homer off Spencer Bivens that landed in the correct field lane to make it 3-0.
“He's all about control,” Melvin said of his former closer. “When he throws the ball over the plate, he's hard to handle. That's been his problem. He dropped a slider the other day, so maybe he's trying to be a little bit good with that. But his fastball still has a lot of potential. When he hits his slider well, he's still up. He just has a hard time hitting it consistently.”
The Giants, however, were shut out for six innings by Brewers starter Frankie Montas – a former player for manager Bob Melvin on the A's – who managed 15 strikeouts while being limited to 5 hits on an evening wherein that they had three home runs and 17 hits in a 13-2 victory.
They only advanced five men to bat and didn’t rating on six occasions, leaving a complete of eight runners on the sector.
Jerar Encarnacion hit a double off Brewers closer Devin Williams down the left field line to provide the Giants runners on second and third base with one out within the ninth inning, but Grant McCray went down swinging and Patrick Bailey was grounded out, ending the sport.
The clean sheet loss was the Giants' sixth of the season and prevented them from winning two games in a row for the primary time because the first week of August. It was the primary time this season the Giants lost a house series against an NL Central opponent after winning no less than two of three games against the Reds, Cubs and Pirates.
Remarkable
SS Tyler Fitzgerald The club announced that he left the sport within the third inning as a result of a lower back injury.
Next
The Giants host the Padres (82-65) for 3 games on the town to finish their penultimate home stretch of the 12 months. Play begins at 7:15 p.m. Friday, but they’ve not yet announced pitching plans for the weekend series. Their next loss or the Dodgers' next win will mathematically knock them out of the race for the NL West.
Originally published:
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