SF Giants’ losing streak hits six games as Birdsong fails to record an out
ATLANTA — Thanks in part to the All-Star Break, Hayden Birdsong went roughly two weeks in between starts. The layoff gave him time to find a solution to the command issues that have plagued him in recent starts.
Instead, Birdsong hit his nadir.
He faced six batters and recorded no outs. He threw 25 pitches but landed only six strikes strikes. He surrendered one hit but allowed five runs due to four walks and a hit-by-pitch. Birdsong’s imperfect outing that set the stage for the Giants’ (52-49) latest defeat, a 9-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Monday night at Truist Park that extended the team’s current skid to six games.
“He was kind of teetering the last time and found a way through it. Today, he couldn’t, unfortunately,” said manager Bob Melvin. “Put us in a little bit of a bind with the pitching and how we had to cover this game. Not ideal, and kind of back to square one with him as far as command issues go.”
“We’re back to step one, whatever that is,” Birdsong said. “Go back, look at film, see what I was doing in the minor leagues, see what I’ve done up here early. Just reset it. That’s all I got right now.”
As poorly as Birdsong pitched, the Giants’ didn’t play a crisp game following his departure either. Along with a pair of throwing errors from reliever Matt Gage and left fielder Heliot Ramos, the defense had a pair of non-error miscues that directly led to runs.
In the fourth, Ronald Acuña Jr. scored from first base when Lee lobbed a throw back to the infield. In the sixth, Lee didn’t take command of a routine fly ball to left-center field, resulting in the ball dropping and a run scoring.
“We had bad communication is what it is,” Melvin said of Acuña scoring from first. “Casey (Schmitt) has to let him know when he gets up. (Matt Chapman) is trying to yell. Casey’s still kind of learning the position, too. It’s just a bad look when you’re playing like that and something like that happens in a game like this where we look terrible. Just another instance today that was not a good look for us.”
Said Willy Adames, who recorded his first four-hit game as a Giant: “We just have to figure out a way to be a better team. We have to figure out a way how to be better on defense, run the bases better, continue to play hard baseball.”
To the point about playing hard baseball, Adames assessed the Giants were “grinders” in the first half but haven’t had that same energy in the second half. To Adames, getting back to that point requires playing hard every day, being aggressive, taking good at-bats and “doing the little things.” During this current skid, Adames said the Giants aren’t “attacking the other team.”
“That’s not our identity. It feels like lately we’ve fallen off the bus. It’s just not us,” Adames said. “We have to figure out a way to get out of it as soon as possible. It’s not us. It sucks because we are in a good spot, but we have to be better for us to make a run. And obviously, to try to take this division, we have to be way, way better than how we are right now.”
The 23-year-old’s inability to command his pitches has seemingly come out of nowhere. In his first 17 appearances (six starts), Birdsong walked 20 batters over 52 2/3 innings and posted a 3.25 ERA. Over his last four starts, by contrast, Birdsong has walked 17 batters over 13 innings with an 11.08 ERA.
Birdsong began his outing by walking Jurickson Profar on seven pitches, getting into a full count before throwing a 3-2 slider in the dirt. From there, Birdsong lost the zone entirely. He walked Matt Olson on four pitches, then walked Ronald Acuña Jr. on four more pitches. After Birdsong loaded the bases, Drake Baldwin cleared them with a three-run double.
The 23-year-old’s night lasted just two more batters. Following Baldwin’s double, Birdsong walked Ozzie Albies on five pitches and plunked Sean Murphy on an errant fastball. With that, Melvin pulled the plug on Birdsong’s night.
Including tonight’s outing, there have now been 33 instances since 2000 of a starting pitcher facing at least six batters and recording no outs. The last Giant to do so was Zack Littell on June 15, 2021, a game that San Francisco still won as Mike Yastrzemski hit a go-ahead grand slam. The list includes former Giant and current roving pitching instructor Ryan Vogelsong, who was coincidentally in attendance.
Gage entered the ballgame with no outs, the bases loaded and San Francisco already trailing Atlanta, 3-1. All things considered, Gage provided the Giants with much-needed equanimity. He allowed a two-run single to Nick Allen that expanded the Braves’ lead to 5-1, but recorded three outs and got San Francisco back into the dugout following a lengthy first inning.
Still, with Birdsong failing to record a single out, San Francisco’s bullpen needed to cover at least seven more innings at the minimum. That task would be especially difficult given the state of the ‘pen. Tristan Beck pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief on Friday when Justin Verlander was pulled before completing three innings. In Sunday’s 9-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, right-hander Spencer Bivens tossed 1 1/3 innings while left-hander Joey Lucchesi contributed two scoreless frames.
The Giants had opportunities to crawl back in the ballgame despite the early four-run deficit, but the defensive miscues combined with the offense going 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position led to Melvin almost exclusively using lower leverage relievers.
Gage’s outing lasted two innings before Melvin called upon another arm. Bivens allowed three runs over 1 2/3 innings, then Beck followed up by retiring all four batters he faced. Ryan Walker handled the sixth and seventh, then Camilo Doval rounded out the night by pitching the eighth in his first appearance of the second half.
“We had plenty of opportunities to come back in that game. We didn’t,” Melvin said. “If we did, it might’ve looked a little different as far as personnel, but somebody like Tristan has got to wear it after throwing four-plus the other day. Bivens (pitched) one-plus yesterday and he’s got to go back out there. We’re trying to get through the game and have enough weapons for tomorrow.”
Giants announce signings 17 of 18 draft picks
The Giants announced prior to Monday night’s game against the Atlanta Braves that they’ve signed 17 of the 18 players they selected in the 2025 MLB draft, a list that includes first-rounder Gavin Kilen out of the University of Tennessee. Additionally, San Francisco also signed three undrafted free agents: infielder Hayden Jatczak (Kent State), catcher Daniel Rogers (Iowa) and right-hander Dylan Carter (Arkansas).
Elijah McNeal, who starred at Dublin High School, did not sign with the Giants after being selected by the team in the 20th and final round of the draft. McNeal is committed to play at UC Davis.