'Not what I wanted': Birdsong's battles continue in 5-ER outing

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants traded veteran Alex Cobb to the Guardians to clear a rotation spot for Hayden Birdsong, but the 22-year-old rookie hasn’t been able to reward their faith thus far.

Birdsong was charged with five runs over 4 1/3 innings as the Giants fell to the Tigers, 5-4, to come up short of a sweep in Sunday afternoon’s series finale at Oracle Park.

Birdsong opened eyes after recording a 2.97 ERA over his first six outings, but he endured the worst start of his young career against the Nationals on Tuesday, when he was rocked for seven runs over two-plus innings. The struggles continued on Sunday, as he surrendered a leadoff home run to Matt Vierling in the first inning, followed by a two-run, go-ahead shot to Dillon Dingler in the second.

Birdsong, the Giants' No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline, has now allowed four home runs over his past two outings (6 1/3 innings), matching the total from his first six starts combined (30 1/3 innings).

“Obviously, not what I wanted, like the last outing,” said Birdsong, who walked one and struck out five. “A little better on fastball command, I would say. I got it down in the zone when I needed to, not all the time. The home runs were good swings, too much of the plate. It’s how baseball goes. I’m not happy with it. A little disappointed, but that’s how it goes. I’ll be ready for the next one.”

The Tigers knocked Birdsong out of the game after Dingler and Vierling delivered a pair of doubles to put the Giants in a 4-2 hole in the fifth. Erik Miller came on to replace Birdsong, though he allowed an inherited runner to score on Colt Keith’s two-out RBI single to right field.

“I thought he pitched better,” manager Bob Melvin said of Birdsong. “He was falling behind a little bit earlier in the game but only walked one. Not a lot of free passes, and you make them work for it a little bit more, so I thought it was better than the last game.”

The red-hot Matt Chapman drove in the Giants’ first three runs with a pair of singles before Jerar Encarnacion cut the deficit to 5-4 with a two-run double to right field in the sixth. Still, the Giants couldn’t keep the rally going after two baserunning miscues squandered a prime scoring opportunity in the eighth.

The Giants had the tying run at third with no outs after Chapman led off with a triple, but he tried coming home on Mark Canha’s bouncer to Javier Báez at short and ended up getting caught in a rundown for the first out of the inning. A frustrated Chapman lay splayed on home plate for several seconds after getting tagged out as he tried to catch his breath and process the critical mistake.

“Disgusted at myself for doing that,” Chapman said. “I saw Mark hit it into the ground. Off the bat, I thought it was going to make Báez move a little bit more. I got caught probably being a little bit too aggressive there. I just tried to stay in it to let Mark get to second base. But if I could do it over again, I definitely would have stayed at third base.”

Chapman, who is batting .455 (5-for-11) with a 1.299 OPS over his last seven games, extended his rundown long enough to allow Canha to reach second, but Canha made another out on the bases when he broke for third on Patrick Bailey’s comebacker to Brenan Hanifee, who spun around and threw to Báez to initiate another rundown.

The Giants have routinely struggled with timely hitting -- they went only 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position on Sunday and rank 29th in the Majors with a .193 batting average in such situations since July 25 -- which may have played into the overaggressiveness on the bases.

“Our situational at-bats haven’t been great recently, so [Chapman’s] just trying to make something happen,” Melvin said. “And then Mark just read the wrong side.”

After taking two of three from the Tigers, the Giants (61-59) will now prepare for a pivotal four-game series with the Braves (61-56), who are 1 1/2 games ahead of them in the National League Wild Card standings.

“I think we’ve just got to turn the page and get ready for this next series,” Chapman said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us, for sure.”