SAN FRANCISCO – Given the state of the Giants’ pitching staff, Spencer Bivens very well might have earned a spot in the rotation until some of the team’s projected starters return, although the 30-year-old rookie didn’t even want to think about that possibility.
Instead, Bivens wanted to soak up the moment after getting a win in his first MLB start.
On a day when Bob Melvin was hopeful of squeezing just a few innings out of his starter – “Four tops,” according to the Giants manager – Bivens pitched further than he had in any of his previous games in the big leagues.
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Bivens allowed four hits and one run over five innings, setting the early tone for a 10-4 victory that completed the Giants’ first series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park since 2022.
“First career start, I’ve been waiting my whole life for that,” Bivens said. “It’s really special, to help the team win, put us in a good position and help the bullpen. Just happy I was able to help them out.
“I didn’t really expect much. I just wanted to do my job and help the guys out. It worked out today."
Bivens has helped the Giants on a consistent basis over the last two weeks.
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After pitching three relief innings and allowing one run to get the win in his professional debut June 16, Bivens got roughed up for three runs in two innings and was tagged with a loss against the Chicago Cubs on June 19.
Since then, he has been pretty much lights out.
Bivens took a string of five consecutive hitless innings into Sunday’s game. That stretch reached seven innings against the Dodgers before Enrique Hernandez’s one-out double in the third.
Bivens escaped that jam by striking out Japanese slugger Shohei Ohtani with a 95-mph fastball. Bivens later ended his afternoon with a three-pitch K of Ohtani with a runner at second in the fifth, the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter swinging and missing at a sinker, fastball and sweeper.
That put Bivens, who went undrafted out of college then pitched in France, in line to get the win
“Doesn’t matter who was in there, I don’t want to give up that run,” Bivens said. “It happened to be Shohei, so I really had to step it up to get him out. He had seen a good bit of what I had to offer. The most important thing was to be able to execute pitches.”
The second strikeout of Ohtani had the Giants’ dugout buzzing.
“To go five innings and strike out Ohtani to get the win, pretty special day for him,” Melvin said. “I think everybody got goose bumps on that one.”
The Giants’ pitching staff has been a mess for much of the 2024 MLB season, with guys going in and out of the rotation. Some of the injured guys – Blake Snell, Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb – should be returning soon, but Bivens should be given serious consideration for another start or two until they do come back.
That’s a decision Melvin and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi will have to make.
“He’s pretty confident in what he does,” Melvin said. “To let him go through Ohtani three times, we have a lot of faith in him. We leaned on him today pretty hard, and he’s rewarding us almost every time he goes out there.”
For now, Bivens won’t even entertain the idea.
“I can’t even think about that,” Bivens said. “[This was] just one. You have to be good every time.”
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