SAN FRANCISCO — They don’t manufacture many major leaguers in Mattoon, Illinois, and only a handful of future professional ballplayers have passed through the Ohio Valley Conference which Eastern Illinois University calls home.
It stands to reason, then, that Hayden Birdsong never backed himself into a corner like the one in which he found himself two batters into the third inning Wednesday evening. Making his major-league debut less than two years after his name was called in the sixth round of the amateur draft, the bushy-haired, baby-faced right-hander was staring down the heart of the Cubs’ lineup after putting the first two batters of the inning on base.
Hours earlier, manager Bob Melvin was asked how Birdsong, 22, was “handling the moment,” with less professional experience under his belt than any Giants pitching prospect in their first major-league start since Tim Lincecum almost two decades earlier.
“We’ll see when he gets out there,” the manager responded, earnestly.
In the span of three batters, the Giants got their answer.
Falling behind 2-0 to Cody Bellinger, the Cubs’ No. 3 batter, Birdsong evened the count with a pair of high fastballs, which only served to set up his next pitch, a looping curveball over the inside corner that felt the air of the left-hander’s swing before finding the back of Patrick Bailey’s glove.
The next batter, Seiya Suzuki, skied a letter-high fastball to right field for the second out, and Birdsong reversed his approach to send Ian Happ back to the dugout for the third and final out of the inning. Using his changeup and curveball to get ahead of the Cubs’ No. 5 hitter, Birdsong powered a 96.5 mph fastball past an empty swing for his second strikeout of the inning, stranding the Cubs’ runners where they were two batters into the inning.
Beaten by Suzuki in their next battle, Birdsong ultimately didn’t factor into the decision in a 4-3 win but over 4⅔ innings proved he was plenty capable of taking down many more to come, an answer Melvin and his depleted pitching staff was desperately seeking when the day began.
Delivering their third straight win over the Cubs — rebounding from a five-game skid that sent them a season-worst six games under .500 — the 4⅔ innings the Giants got from the rookie right-hander matched the largest workload they’ve received from one pitcher since they returned home Monday.
Tagged for three runs on six hits, Birdsong struck out five and generated nine swings and misses while issuing three walks. His fastball topped out at 98.4 and registered readings of 97 mph or harder 13 times, the most in an outing by any Giants starter not named Jordan Hicks.
The 97 pitches Birdsong exhausted were the third-most by a pitcher making his major-league debut this season, but he’d like to have the last one back.
While the 30,893 on hand gave him a warm reception as he walked off the field, Birdsong shook his head as he descended the dugout steps. One out shy of completing five innings and putting himself in position to earn the win, Birdsong didn’t factor into the decision after Suzuki sent the eighth pitch of his at-bat over the center field wall.
Still, it should have amounted to a “pinch-me” moment for the young right-hander, considered the Giants’ No. 6 prospect by MLB.com, who grew up rooting on the Cubs. While Birdsong wowed coaches during his first big-league spring training, he began the season at Double-A Richmond and had thrown 169⅔ professional innings — the fewest by a Giants pitching prospect since Lincecum in 2007 — when he was informed to pack his bags and get to Oracle Park in time to start Wednesday’s game.
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With a pair of swings in the second inning, Michael Conforto and David Villar provided the majority of the Giants’ offense. Scoring Bailey after a leadoff walk, Conforto sent a two-run homer into the seats above the out-of-town scoreboard in right field, and Villar followed with a line-drive solo shot to center.
Building a 3-1 advantage, it was the second time the Giants have hit back-to-back home runs this season.
Luis Matos put them ahead, 4-3, with his own solo shot with two outs in the fifth.
They improved to 13-4 when hitting multiple home runs in a game.
Up next
RHP Jordan Hicks (4-4, 3.24) gets the nod in the series finale against LHP Shōta Imanaga (7-2, 2.96). First pitch is scheduled for 12:45 p.m.