Birdsong 'in the zone' throughout bounceback start

SAN FRANCISCO -- After enduring a string of short starts for the Giants, Hayden Birdsong made it clear what his primary goal would be over the final weeks of the regular season.

“I just want to eat innings and stop killing the bullpen,” Birdsong said last week.

The 23-year-old rookie took a step forward in that regard on Thursday night, firing five scoreless innings in his best start in seven weeks as the Giants were shut out, 3-0, to seal a series loss to the Brewers at Oracle Park.

Birdsong recorded a 2.97 ERA over his first six Major League appearances this year, but he spent most of the second half attempting to navigate through some growing pains. He failed to complete at least five innings in six consecutive starts since July 27, going 0-5 with an 8.31 ERA across that span. The common thread over that rough stretch was a lack of fastball command, as he issued 20 walks over 21 2/3 innings, which prevented him from pitching deep into games.

Aided by an extra two days of rest, Birdsong managed to shift back into attack mode against the Brewers, allowing only two hits while walking one and striking out four in an efficient 68-pitch outing.

“It was nice to actually just be in the zone from first pitch to last pitch,” Birdsong said. “Obviously, I had a walk, but it didn’t bother me at that point because I was in the zone for the whole game. That’s all I really wanted to do. I want to keep doing that and keep showing that I can pitch through five and beyond. Today, I was really happy with what I did. Hopefully, we keep that going.”

Birdsong landed first-pitch strikes against 11 of the 17 batters (65%) he faced, a significant improvement from the 46.7% mark he’d posted over his previous six outings. Sustaining that high clip will be key for Birdsong moving forward, as opposing batters entered Thursday with a .642 OPS when they’ve fallen behind 0-1 against him, compared to a .910 OPS when they’ve gotten ahead 1-0.

“That was great,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He really needed that. You could see from pitch one, he was dotting his fastball away. Down in the zone, good downhill plane, good velo. As he went along, he gained even more confidence. That was a huge outing for him to give us five like that.”

The Giants ultimately squandered Birdsong’s bounceback start, as they couldn’t build on Wednesday night’s blowout and ended up recording only five hits in their sixth shutout loss of the year.

The game remained scoreless until the seventh, when Camilo Doval issued a leadoff walk to Willy Adames and then allowed the Brewers’ shortstop to score the decisive run on three wild pitches. Milwaukee added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth thanks to 20-year-old rookie Jackson Chourio, who launched a two-run homer off Spencer Bivens to become the youngest player to record a 20-20 season in the Majors.

Doval, meanwhile, made the wrong sort of history, as he became the first Giants player to throw three or more wild pitches in the same inning since Chris Heston uncorked a trio against the D-backs on April 18, 2016. San Francisco’s erstwhile closer now has a 6.75 ERA with seven walks over eight innings in nine appearances since being recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Aug. 24.

“Obviously, the walk wasn’t great and then the wild pitches,” Melvin said. “It’s just about command for him. He throws over the plate, he’s tough to deal with. That’s been his issue, command. The other day, he hangs a slider [against the Padres], so I think maybe he was trying to be a little bit fine with that. But still good life on his fastball. When he hits his slider well, it’s still plus. He’s just having a tough time doing it consistently.”