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Giants rookie Hayden Birdsong beats Braves, notches first win to open road trip

Cam Inman, The Mercury News on

Published in Baseball

Hayden Birdsong’s first big league win came Tuesday night in a big-time road debut.

Sure, the rookie right-hander gave up back-to-back solo home runs, but the Giants matched that feat against the majors’ ERA leader in Reynoldo López, then they pulled away for a 5-3 win at Atlanta’s Truist Park to open a six-game road trip.

Another Giants solo home run — Heliot Ramos’ opposite-field shot over the right-corner wall in the ninth — secured the Giants’ sixth win in eight games, after they had lost five straight away from Oracle Park.

Perhaps more impressive, Ramos made a diving catch and landed hard on his right shoulder to record the first out for closer Camilo Duval, who struck out the Braves’ next two batters for his 15th save.

Birdsong, pulled after 4 2/3 innings in last Wednesday’s impressive debut against the Cubs, just made it through the five innings necessary to earn a decision. With runners at second and third, the Braves sent up the top of their order, and Birdsong courageously countered by recording his fifth strikeout and a rally-killing flyout to preserve the 2-2 tie.

The Giants promptly put him in position for a win, when pinch-hitter Luis Matos’ grounder ricocheted off third baseman Austin Riley’s glove and brought in Michael Conforto for a 3-2 lead. Conforto had led off the sixth with a double inside the right-field line.

Another Giants double, by Brett Wisely, led to another run, as he scored in the eighth on Nick Ahmed’s flyout for a 4-2 lead. But the Braves got that run back when Tyler Rodgers allowed a Jarred Kelenic double and an Ozzie Albies RBI single; Rogers responded by striking out No. 3 hitter Marcell Ozuna and getting Matt Olson to ground out.

As was the case in Birdsong’s debut last Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs at Oracle Park, the Giants’ offense produced back-to-back home runs. Jorge Soler and LaMonte Wade Jr. opened Tuesday’s fifth inning with solo shots, canceling out the Braves’ own back-to-back home runs in the second inning. López entered with a majors-best 1.70 ERA and a 6-2 record, and he certainly labored before exiting after his 101st pitch struck out Ramos.

 

Soler entered this game 12 for 19 with three home runs against López, and after striking out his first two at-bats Tuesday, Soler blasted an 0-2 fastball 394 feet, reminiscent of his heroics that made him the 2021 Atlanta Braves’ World Series MVP. With Atlanta’s launching pad officially ajar, Wade followed with a 442-foot on a full-count slider to tie the score at 2.

Mike Yastrzemski, out the previous nine games with an oblique strain, produced the Giants’ only two hits off López through four innings. Both singles came with two outs, and both were followed by Nick Ahmed flyouts to deep left field to keep the Giants scoreless.

The Giants certainly made López labor, starting with 29 pitches in the first inning when all four batters reached a full count; three struck out and LaMonte Wade Jr. walked.

Birdsong, in his first road start, struck out three of the first four batters he faced. Then came Austin Riley and Sean Murphy with back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning, on 407-foot and 430-foot shots, respectively.

The Braves almost hit three bombs in a row, but Adam Duvall’s 396-foot blast couldn’t clear the center-field wall, nor could Ramos’ glove nab it to prevent a double. Riley belted a 2-1 fastball into the left field’s second deck on a 97.7-mph offering, which is what Birdson struck out Olson in the preceding at-bat.

Birdsong opened with a 1-2-3 inning, striking out Kelenic on a 96.4-mph fastball and No. 3 hitter Ozuna on an 86.3-mph slider.


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