SF Giants’ rotation implodes along with playoff hopes on ‘disappointing’ road trip

MILWAUKEE — A month since Farhan Zaidi declared the Giants’ rotation the best in baseball, those dreams have fizzled out along with their playoff hopes.

In the ideal scenario, Logan Webb and Blake Snell would have given them a two-headed monster at the top, Robbie Ray would look more like the 2021 Cy Young winner than a grizzled veteran coming off major surgery, and their pair of promising rookies would continue to build on strong first impressions.

On their most pivotal trip of the season, with their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, no San Francisco starter even recorded an out in the sixth inning or later.

Hayden Birdsong walked off the mound Thursday afternoon with an out left in the fourth inning, and by the time the frame was over the Giants (67-68) were in a six-run hole. They were shut out, 6-0, dropping two of three to the Brewers and finishing 2-4 on the road trip that started with another series loss in Seattle.

“Obviously when you win the first game of a series, you’d like to win one more. We didn’t do that, so it ended up being a bad road trip. We can’t be losing series,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It looked like an awful game from us.”

The right-hander born about four hours south of here, in Mattoon, Illinois, who celebrates his 23rd birthday Friday, was the lynchpin to the Giants’ pitching plans down the stretch. Understanding that he and Kyle Harrison would both surpass previous career-highs in innings, the Giants determined that Birdsong had pitched well enough to earn a full-time rotation spot and traded away a more known quantity in Alex Cobb to clear the decks.

In front of about 40 friends and family members, Birdsong was tagged for six runs on four hits in 3⅔ innings while walking four batters, the third time in five starts since the trade deadline that he surrendered five or more runs. The Giants fell to 0-5 in those games.

“I’ve been struggling a little bit, obviously, not getting deep into games,” Birdsong said. “I haven’t really done that since I’ve been up here. I’m not happy with that. But I’m going to keep working and every bullpen I throw try to keep getting better and better. I thought today was a lot better. It’s just, things happen.”

The latest loss sent them seven games back of the Braves (73-60) for the final wild card with 27 to play, dealing another blow to their playoff chances that stood at 1.7% entering the day, according to FanGraphs. They also trail the Mets (69-64), Cubs (68-66) and Cardinals (67-67) and face the toughest remaining schedule of any team in the majors, including six games apiece against the Diamondbacks (76-57) and Padres (76-60).

“Obviously you look at the standings and it’s not looking great for us right now,” said third baseman Matt Chapman. “We need to climb back into this thing. But we do play the teams ahead of us still coming up. We still control our own destiny. So I think that’s the mindset.”

After going 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA while completing five innings four times in his first six big-league starts, Birdsong hasn’t made it out of the fifth once in his past five starts. The six runs he surrendered Thursday raised his ERA since the trade deadline to 9.16.

“Teams are making him work really hard. His stuff’s good. It’s what we have,” Melvin said. “He’s pitched well at times this year. It’s just not been his best stretch since the trade deadline.”

In all but one of his 11 starts, Birdsong has walked multiple batters, and all four of the free passes he issued Thursday came around to score.

Garrett Mitchell got the scoring started with a solo shot in the second — the Brewers’ fourth home run of the series — and Joey Ortiz doubled home the first free pass issued by Birdsong to open a 2-0 lead. It got out of hand in the fourth as Birdsong issued back-to-back walks after retiring the first two batters of the inning and wouldn’t make it out of the inning, requiring 92 pitches to record 11 outs.

“I thought his stuff was good. Especially the first inning, it looked like he was locked in,” Melvin said. “They made him throw enough pitches to where he had to come out early.”

The Brewers plated one more in the third after Birdsong walked William Contreras and allowed him to reach third on a single from Willy Adames, setting up a double-steal that was misplayed by the Giants and allowed Conteras to score from third, credited with a steal of home.

Adames broke for second, and catcher Patrick Bailey — in his first game since a 10-day stint on the injured list with a strained oblique — threw through to Tyler Fitzgerald. With Contreras threatening to go home, Fitzgerald threw behind him, to third baseman Matt Chapman, who bobbled the ball as the catcher scored without a play.

“We’ve got to run at him and make a decision. Probably made the throw a little too early,” Melvin said. “Those plays look bad when you don’t execute.”

As a group, the Giants’ rotation has been far from the best in baseball, even with Webb (1.70 ERA in seven starts since the deadline) and Snell (6 starts, 1.72 ERA) holding up their end of the bargain. Both the 128⅔ innings and the 4.27 ERA they have gotten from their starters in August rank in the bottom half of the league.

They got four innings from Birdsong to start their series in Seattle, three from Snell the next day and in Sunday’s finale, Ray departed in fourth inning with a hamstring strain that forced him to the injured list. Webb made it to the sixth Monday but departed after facing two batters, retiring neither, and Kyle Harrison was chased from Wednesday’s loss after he was tagged for five runs in the fifth.

“It’s taken its toll,” Melvin said of the effect on the Giants’ bullpen, which covered 28 innings with a 2.89 ERA over the road trip.

Their beleaguered bats meant that even the smallest crack in the armor of their pitching staff could have fatal consequences.

They were stymied by another starting pitcher, Aaron Civale, who held them to no runs on two hits over seven innings after they mustered only three hits and couldn’t crack the scoreboard in seven frames against Freddy Peralta a night earlier.

The Giants went down quietly against the Brewers bullpen and, likewise, into the void of low-stakes September baseball. They were shut out for the fifth time this season and matched their season-low with just two hits.

“It’s disappointing. Not much else to say, just disappointed,” said Chapman, who logged his 1,000th career game. “We were in every single game, maybe with the exception of today’s game, but every game we’re in there, whether it’s one or two runs, we just haven’t been able to get the big hit when we needed it, or just been able to hold a lead.

“Give credit to the Brewers and the Mariners – they got big hits when they needed it and their pitchers executed. Our guys are doing the same thing, just coming up a little bit short. It’s not fun. We know how precious each win is and how important these games are. This one stings.”

Up next

The Giants return home and begin a three-game series Friday against the Miami Marlins, where former manager Gabe Kapler is an assistant general manager. They will have LHP Blake Snell (2-3, 3.76) on the mound against RHP Adam Oller (1-1, 5.23) in the series opener, then face a decision on how to fill LHP Robbie Ray‘s vacant rotation spot Saturday. When the series wraps up, the Giants begin a stretch of 21 straight games against teams in playoff position.