Bivens goes above and beyond to help win series vs. LA

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants were starved for innings. Spencer Bivens certainly helped sate that appetite.

Bivens allowed only one run over a career-high five innings in his first Major League start as the Giants clinched a rare series victory over the rival Dodgers with a 10-4 rout in Sunday afternoon’s finale at Oracle Park.

“The first career start, I’ve been waiting my whole life for that,” said Bivens, who began his professional career in France and pitched in the independent leagues before signing with the Giants as an undrafted free agent two years ago. “It’s really special to be able to help the team win and to put us in a good position to help the bullpen. Whatever they have me do, I’ll do it. I’m just happy I was able to help them out.”

The 30-year-old journeyman hadn’t gone longer than three innings since making his Major League debut on June 16, but the Giants desperately needed some length after burning through seven relievers in Saturday’s 14-7 loss in 11 innings. Bivens gave them just what they needed -- and then some -- needing only 45 pitches to breeze through his first four innings.

After Matt Chapman launched his team-leading 11th home run of the year to cap a five-run fourth and extend San Francisco’s lead to 9-0, Bivens returned to the mound for the fifth, though he surrendered a one-out solo shot to Chris Taylor, who drove a hanging sweeper out to dead center to put Los Angeles on the board.

The Giants had lefty Taylor Rogers warming in the bullpen after Kiké Hernández followed with a single, but they decided to stick with Bivens, who coaxed a groundout from Austin Barnes and then struck out Shohei Ohtani on three pitches to end the inning.

Ohtani crushed his National League-best 26th home run of the year on Saturday and entered Sunday slashing .419/.552/1.116 with nine home runs and 18 RBIs over his last 12 games, but he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Bivens, who earned the win in his sixth career big league appearance.

“We were hoping to get five out of he and [Landen] Roupp, something like that,” manager Bob Melvin said. “To go five innings and strike out Ohtani to get the win? Pretty special day for him. I think everybody got goosebumps on that one.”

A fired-up Bivens let out a roar and emphatically pumped his fist after getting Ohtani to swing through an inside sweeper on his 60th and final pitch of the afternoon, which marked his longest outing since a six-inning relief appearance for Double-A Richmond on Sept. 13, 2023.

“It was a big spot,” Bivens said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in there. I don’t want to give up that run, but it happened to be Shohei, so I really had to step it up to get him out.”

Rogers, Roupp and Tyler Rogers combined to work the final four innings to seal the Giants’ first home series win against the Dodgers since June 10-12, 2022. The Giants (41-44) hope the momentum they built over their 5-2 homestand will continue to propel them as they embark on their final road trip of the first half, a six-game swing through Atlanta and Cleveland that begins on Tuesday night at Truist Park.

“We have to start winning series,” Melvin said. “We’ve got to roll some games together leading up to the break. This was a good start in what is kind of a tough stretch right now.”

San Francisco’s bats gave Bivens and Co. some early breathing room by teeing off against Dodgers left-hander James Paxton, who gave up a career-worst nine runs over four innings. The Giants pounded out 16 hits, including 10 doubles, a single-game record in the San Francisco era.

The Giants loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, though they pushed across only one run on Chapman’s sacrifice fly to left field. Still, they tacked on two more in the second and another in the third before breaking the game open with their five spot in the fourth.

Tyler Fitzgerald led off with a single and Jorge Soler walked to set up Heliot Ramos’ one-out RBI double over the head of center fielder Andy Pages. Patrick Bailey followed with a two-run double before Chapman crushed a 2-0 fastball from Paxton out to left field for a two-run blast.

“It feels really good to take the series, especially since they’re an elite team,” Soler said in Spanish. “They have a lot of good players. It gives us more confidence to know that we can play at that level.”