'Kind of shocked': Birdsong, Soler shine in Giants' victory

DENVER -- Bob Melvin had to get something off his chest.

Frustrated with some of the umpiring calls in the first two games of this series, Melvin took a second to air his grievances during the lineup card exchange prior to Sunday's first pitch. But his complaints weren’t well-received by crew chief Chris Conroy, who ejected the Giants' manager before the game started.

“I just talked too much,” Melvin said. “Umpiring is a hard job. I’m very aware of that. Like I said, I probably said a little too much.”

Melvin said he didn't plan on getting rung up for the fourth time this season, but his ejection may have unintentionally helped inspire his players to come out swinging against the Rockies.

Rookie Hayden Birdsong struck out 12 over six innings in the best start of his young career, and Jorge Soler and Tyler Fitzgerald each homered as the Giants fended off a sweep with a 3-2 win in Sunday’s series finale at Coors Field.

“I can’t be sure, but he’s probably been planning that since last night,” Fitzgerald said. “It was just pretty cool. We were all kind of shocked. We didn’t really know what happened, but it definitely fired us up a little bit.”

Soler opened the scoring only minutes after Melvin was tossed, crushing a 478-foot leadoff home run in the first inning, ranking as the longest blast in the Majors this year. The moonshot set the tone for the Giants' most complete game of the series, which leaves them three games out of the final National League Wild Card spot with nine days to go until the Trade Deadline.

The 22-year-old Birdsong was making his first career start at Coors Field, but he appeared undaunted by the high altitude, allowing only two runs on two hits while completing six innings for the first time in his five Major League outings. He leaned on his curveball (34%) and slider (34%) to generate 27 swinging strikes and rack up a career-high 12 punchouts, the most ever by a Giants pitcher at Coors Field. It marked the most strikeouts by a Giants rookie in a single game since Tim Lincecum fanned 12 D-backs on July 1, 2007.

“I was landing curveballs over and over again and the slider was there today,” Birdsong said. “It was cool to see. It helps my confidence a little bit just knowing that my stuff plays up here and I can kind of work off of that.”

Birdsong could still be optioned to Triple-A Sacramento once Robbie Ray (Tommy John surgery) and Alex Cobb (left hip surgery) return from the 60-day injured list. But, he continued to open eyes with his electric performance.

“He’s a very talented kid,” Melvin said. “This is a tough place to pitch. We lost two tough games. There’s a little more at stake when he takes the mound. Obviously, where we are, we wanted to get off to a good start. To lose two games puts a little more pressure on you. It didn’t look like there was pressure on him at all. He pitched really well. His breaking stuff is tough to track. There’s multiple, the curveball and the changeup. Just a fantastic outing for a lot of different reasons.”

Fitzgerald, who earned his second straight start at shortstop after going 2-for-3 with a double and a homer on Saturday, extended the Giants’ lead to 2-0 with another solo shot off Rockies starter Ryan Feltner in the third. San Francisco added a key insurance run in the fourth when Matt Chapman singled, advanced to third on a base hit by Mike Yastrzemski and scored on a passed ball by Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings.

The lone blemish for Birdsong came in the fourth when he walked Ryan McMahon and then surrendered a two-run shot to Brendan Rodgers that cut the Giants’ lead to 3-2. Still, San Francisco’s bullpen managed to preserve the one-run lead after Birdsong departed, with Ryan Walker, Tyler Rogers and closer Camilo Doval combining to fire three scoreless innings to seal the win.

“It was huge,” Melvin said. “Not only did we lose two games, but we lost two really tough games. At this point and time of the year, with where we are record-wise, it frustrates you. It mounts a little bit. A little bit of a white-knuckler there at the end, but Camilo came in and did his thing. ...A lot of good things happened.”