What we learned as Giants waste Birdsong’s solid start vs. Brewers

What we learned as Giants waste Birdsong’s solid start vs. Brewers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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SAN FRANCISCO — Perhaps the most exciting part of Thursday’s game at Oracle Park was loyal Giants fans and partners Zee and Tony becoming engaged during the sixth-inning intermission. Besides, that it was a rough one.

After beating the Milwaukee Brewers in blowout fashion on Wednesday, the Giants looked lost offensively in a series-losing 3-0 snoozer the next night.

Brewers right-handed starter Frankie Montas (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) and Giants right-handed rookie starter Hayden Birdsong (5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) told the story of the game with their electric commands, making up for their squads’ lackluster offenses, which combined for nine total hits.

The Giants’ inferior five hits and their formerly electric closer-turned-reliever Camilo Doval combined to ruin Birdsong’s revenge outing, and the Brewers’ Jackson Chourio put a stamp on the game with a 372-foot home run in the eighth to send San Francisco fans to bed early.

Here are three takeaways from the Giants rubber-match loss to the Brewers:

Birdsong’s Promising Tune

Birdsong’s dominant outing made up for his rough start against the Brewers a fortnight ago.

On Aug. 29, the rookie allowed four hits, four walks and five earned runs in San Francisco’s 6-0 loss at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

In Birdsong’s rematch on his home diamond, he allowed just three Brewers to reach base while lowering his ERA from 5.19 to 4.74. It took the rookie an efficient 68 pitches, with 46 being strikes.

Thursday also marked Birdsong’s third career scoreless start. He pitched four scoreless innings against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Aug. 23 and five at home against the Colorado Rockies on July 27.

The 23-year-old looked sharp and spunky on a night when the Giants mirrored their tired 72-75 record.

No Offense

San Francisco scored 13 runs Wednesday, collecting 17 hits and three homers while striking out a fair six times.

The Giants were nothing close to that in Thursday’s rubber match.

LaMonte Wade Jr. and Jerar Encarnacion led San Francisco with two trips to first apiece. Curt Casali, Matt Chapman and Mark Canha got on, too, but that was all she wrote for the home team.

Milwaukee wasn’t much better, experiencing the same offensive woes. But the Brewers’ four total hits — and Chourio’s dagger two-run blast — were all they needed to outlast the Giants, who struck out a lowly 15 times on the night.

Doval’s Struggles Persist

There was a time when the Giants assumed a win would follow Doval’s entrance into a game; Oracle Park even introduced a light show to match the closer’s aura.

But the 27-year-old has been a shell of himself for much of the 2024 MLB season.

Doval added to his lowlights by spoiling a scoreless tie with a wild pitch in the seventh. As Willy Adames reached home plate off the error, another loss was etched beside Doval’s name.

Doval fell to 5-2 on the season and his ERA dropped to 5.02 from 4.94.

He hasn’t looked like the sure-thing reliever of the past two years in a while. And he certainly doesn’t look like the franchise cornerstone many believed him to be.

San Francisco’s offense was nowhere to be seen, but Doval’s 24-pitch seventh ended the Giants night.

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