Birdsong delivers outing he badly needed despite Giants' tough loss

SAN FRANCISCO -- Rookie starting pitcher Hayden Birdsong had the start he badly needed in the Giants’ disappointing 3-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night at Oracle Park.

The right-hander collected four strikeouts through five scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and a walk.

Birdsong made up for his last start against the Brewers, in which he allowed five earned runs in a 6-0 Giants loss on Aug. 29, and San Francisco manager Bob Melvin was happy to see his 23-year-old give himself some closure.

“Yeah, that was great. I mean, he really needed that,” Melvin said postgame. “You could see from pitch one that he was dotting his fastball away, down in the zone, playing good velo. As he went along, he gained even more confidence. So, that was a huge outing for him to give us five like that.”

"He really needed that."

Bob Melvin was happy to see a strong outing from Hayden Birdsong tonight pic.twitter.com/G1pHdUSldZ

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 13, 2024

Thursday’s loss also marked Birdsong’s third career scoreless outing.

He looked comfortable from the first pitch at 6:45 p.m. PT and needed an efficient 68 pitches to lower his initial 5.19 ERA to 4.74. 

Birdsong, too, paced the rubber match despite having zero run -- and minimal hit -- support in his 12th career game. 

“It was it was nice to actually just be in the zone from first pitch to last pitch,” Birdsong said about his night. “Obviously, I had a walk, but it didn’t bother me at that point because I was in the zone for the whole game, and that's all I really wanted to do.

“I want to keep doing that and just keep showing that I can pitch through five and beyond. Today, I was really happy … got to keep that going.”

Hayden Birdsong felt like he was "in the zone" this time around against the Brewers pic.twitter.com/IIcUqkrgwi

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 13, 2024

Birdsong, still 3-5 on the 2024 MLB season, improved his WHIP to 1.42 and reached 68 strikeouts. 

Birdsong attacked with his fastball 31 times (46 percent) -- a consistent goal of his -- but the rookie had everything going, and he knew it.

“That helps a lot, always,” Birdsong said of having success with his fastball. “I haven't had my heater very often since I've been up here. So it was nice to have that, and I could just throw that whenever I wanted in the zone today. Hopefully, we can just keep that going.”

The 72-75 Giants would love Birdsong to continue rolling. 

After all, there’s no reason Birdsong shouldn’t remain special. He has the tools to compete with the best -- like he did against the NL Central’s first-place Brewers -- and understands that he belongs in the majors.

But baseball, more than any other sport, is a mental game. Fortunately, Birdsong is a pro’s pro.

“Not really. It's my own brain getting in my own way,” Birdsong said about making any mechanical tweaks. “That’s how it usually is [and] that's how most pitchers are. You know, obviously, there's little things I can tweak, but it’s midseason, I’m throwing every for for to five to six days, whatever it is. 

“It's hard to tweak one thing and then something else goes wrong. So, it's kind of adjust on the fly.”

It would be difficult for Birdsong to change anything with 15 games left on San Francisco’s schedule.

But, the Giants nearly are eliminated from NL playoff contention, so don’t be surprised if Birdsong ultimately gets experimental. 

Regardless, Birdsong proved he is on an upward trajectory in his rematch against the Brewers. 

Now, the righty must finish the year strong.

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