SAN FRANCISCO – Hayden Birdsong was called up from the minors to help fill in the gaps once the Giants’ starting rotation started to leak oil and pitchers kept getting added to the injured list. With several of those key players due to come back very soon, it would seem logical that Birdsong would be sent back down to make room.
The way the 22-year-old rookie has been throwing, however, the decision won’t be so cut-and-dry.
Birdsong spun five solid innings against the Minnesota Twins on Saturday, leaving the game without a decision in the 4-2 loss but solidifying his chances of sticking around.
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“It just depends on when we get guys back, but he seems more and more comfortable every time he goes out there,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s pitched well. There was a need for us. I’ve said often -- he’s only had a couple of starts in Triple-A, and he’s come up here and performed pretty well for us.
“We have big expectations for him down the road. We’ll see how it works out when we start getting some guys back.”
The No. 2 pitching prospect in the Giants’ system, Birdsong hasn’t exactly been dominant but he has been effective, something not a lot of San Francisco’s starters can say this season.
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Against the Twins, he allowed only two hits but hit a pair of batters and walked three. Birdsong gave up only two runs for the third consecutive game.
“It was all right,” Birdsong said. “Not exactly what I want, but it hasn’t been every time I’ve went out. That’s how baseball goes.
“I was a little sporadic when I didn’t need to be. Those first three innings they had some hard contact or whatever, but [I] got outs and had my pitch count pretty low. Then the fourth came around and I struggled a little bit to where I lost a little bit of feel for some of my off-speed pitches. I just couldn’t land stuff when I needed to. That’s all there was to it.”
The Twins boasted one of the best offenses in baseball entering the day.
Minnesota owned the fourth-best team batting average at .255, had the third-highest slugging percentage (.430) and was sixth in scoring.
Against Birdsong, the Twins’ offense looked nothing like that. They didn’t get a runner past first base through the first three innings, scored two runs in the fourth then stranded three runners (two in scoring position) over Birdsong's five innings of work.
“Two runs to that club in five innings, left with the game tied,” Melvin said. “Kept us in the game, pitched well. That’s a tough lineup to navigate.”
But was it enough to warrant keeping Birdsong on the major league roster when Blake Snell, Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb return from the IL?
Birdsong, who almost certainly won’t make another start until after the MLB All-Star break, wouldn’t say. Whichever way it goes, though, the right-hander is willing and able to go along.
“There’s no saying what’s going to happen. They don’t tell us stuff like that,” Birdsong said. “Hopefully I’ve shown enough to stay up here, but if not, I’m still going to cheer us on, and hopefully I can get back up here if they send me down. If they don’t, whatever. It doesn’t matter. I’m ready to do whatever.”
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