Jorge Soler provides some power for the San Francisco Giants belting a top of the fifth inning home run against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Field in Cobb County GA on Tue Jul 2, 2024 (AP News photo)

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Truist Park

Cumberland, Georgia

San Francisco Giants 5 (42-44)

Atlanta Braves 3 (46-37)

Win: Hayden Birdsong (1-0)

Loss: Dylan Lee (2-2)

Save: Camilo Doval (15)

Time: 2:45

Attendance: 34,047

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants got off to a strong and impressive start in their tough six-game road trip, as they came into Cobb County tonight to beat the Atlanta Braves 5-3.

The Giants were coming off a 5-2 homestand, which they closed out by taking two of three from the Dodgers over the weekend. After a brutal 11-inning 14-7 loss to their hated rivals on Saturday, the Giants took it to the Dodgers with a 10-4 win on Sunday.

Now, they were back on the road in the hot and muggy confines of Truist Park in Cobb County, Georgia, just 11 miles northwest of Atlanta, to take on the Atlanta Braves. Tuesday night, the Giants’ offense, which has been swinging the bats much better over the last two weeks, would face a major challenge in the MLB ERA leader, Reynaldo Lopez.

Lopez pitched a scoreless top of the first inning, and Hayden Birdsong, who was making his second big league start, threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the first for the Giants.

Michael Conforto drew a one-out walk in the top of the second, and Mike Yastrzemski, in his first at-bat back from the Injured List, singled to right-field to move Conforto to second base with two outs. The Giants had an chance to strike early against the dominant Reyes, but Nick Ahmed flew out to left to end the inning.

Austin Riley hit an absolute bomb to the second deck out to left with one out in the bottom of the second, and Sean Murphy made it back-to-back with a bomb to left-center. Former Giant Adam Duvall nearly made it back-to-back with a double off the top of the wall in left-center, but Birdsong was able to escape further damage without Duvall scoring.

The Braves had a 2-0 lead with one of the best pitchers in Baseball this season on the mound going to the third. However, Truist Park is one of the most live ballparks in Baseball, and the Giants were not going to make things easy for Reyes.

Heliot Ramos and Patrick Bailey drew two-out walks in the top of the third, and Matt Chapman hit a shot out into the gap in right-center, but center-fielder Jarred Kelenic robbed Chapman with a running catch to end the inning. It was already the second time Tuesday night that Kelenic had robbed Chapman of a base-hit, as he also did so to Chapman his first time up in the second.

Birdsong settled back down with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the third, and both pitchers pitched scoreless innings in the fourth. While the Giants had yet to get on the board, they were getting a lot of pitches out of Reyes.

The red-hot Jorge Soler led off the top of the fifth with a low-hanging home run to left to put the Giants on the board, and LaMonte Wade immediately followed it up with a home run to right-center to tie it. Ramos struck out swinging, but with the fact that Reyes had thrown 101 pitches, his night was over after just four and a third innings.

Duvall led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk, and Forrest Wall immediately followed it up with a bunt single to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Zack Short laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over to second and third, and Birdsong would have to bear down, which is exactly what he did.

Birdsong struck out Kelenic for the second out, and Ozzie Albies flew out off the end of the bat to left field to end the inning. Birdsong got out of it without any damage to finish his night, and the game remained tied going to the sixth.

Birdsong gave up two hits and four runs over five innings. It was a solid outing, but against a powerful offense in a live ballpark in his second-career start, it was quite impressive.

Left-hander Dylan Lee, who finished the top of the fifth, was back out for the sixth. Michael Conforto greeted him with a double to start the inning, and Brett Wisley sacrificed Conforto over to third. Bob Melvin had the right-handed-hitting Luis Matos pinch-hit for Yastrzemski, and Braves Manager Brian Snitker countered by bringing in former Giant Pierce Johnson.

Snicker had the infield play in with the go-ahead run at third. Matos hit a bullet to third that went off the glove of Braves’ third-baseman Austin Riley, which allowed Conforto to score and give the Giants their first lead of the night.

Something quite incredible also happened on this play. Riley was given an error, which has for probably obvious reasons, has become a very rare thing here in 2024.

Randy Rodriguez came in for San Francisco in the bottom of the sixth, and with his parents in the stands to watch him pitch in a big league game for the first time in his career, he threw a 1-2-3 inning. Nick Ahmed helped with a nice play to rob Marcell Ozuna of a hit to start the inning, so Rodriguez owes him one for that.

The Giants had runners at first and second off Johnson with one out in the top of the seventh, but Chapman grounded into a double play to end the inning. Ryan Walker came in for Rodriguez, and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh.

Left-hander Aaron Bummer was the new pitcher for Atlanta in the top of the eighth, and Wisely lined a one-out double off the end of the bat to left. Matos lined a base-hit to left to move Wisely over to third, and Snitker brought in the 40-year old vet, Jesse Chavez to face Ahmed. Ahmed then got Wisely in with a sacrifice fly to left to make it 4-2.

The normally-reliable submariner, Tyler Rogers, ran into trouble in the bottom of the eighth. Kelenic lined a double off the wall down the right field line with one out, and Albies singled on a chopper up the middle and over the mound into center field to score Kelenic and make it 4-3.

Albies stole second to put the tying run in scoring position when Ozuna struck out for the second out, and Matt Olson grounded out to second to end the inning, which kept the Giants’ lead intact going to the ninth.

Chavez, who made his major league debut all the way back in 2008 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, would be back out for the top of the ninth. The Giants got their run back when Ramos hit an opposite-field home run to right with one out.

It was another two-hit night for Ramos, who has made adjustments after pitchers started to figure him out. Ramos has bumped his average back up to .298, and it is now legitimate to talk about him potentially going to the All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas two weeks from Tuesday night.

It was 5-3 Giants going to the bottom of the ninth, and Melvin of course brought in his closer, Camilo Doval. While Doval blew the save against the Dodgers Friday night, he has been pitching much better his last few times out.

Austin Riley led off the bottom of the ninth and hit a line-drive out to left-center, but center-fielder Heliot Ramos ran to his left and made a tumbling catch to rob Riley of a hit. Doval then struck Sean Murphy and Duvall both out swinging to end it, as the Giants won the series opener 5-3.

For Giants’ starter Hayden Birdsong, he gets his first big league win. Good going, kid! Dylan Lee takes the loss, and Camilo Doval picks up his 15th save.

In addition to Heliot Ramos’ two-hit night, Mike Yastrzemski also picked up a pair of hits in his return for the IL. It would have been more had Bob Melvin not pinch-hit Luis Matos, but it was a move that very much paid off.

The Giants have now won six of their last eight, as they get back up to two games under .500 at 42-44.

The Giants can make it three-straight in the second game of this series Wednesday night. Jordan Hicks (4-4, 3.36 ERA) will take the ball for San Francisco, and he will be opposed by the veteran all-star left-hander, Chris Sale (10-3, 2.79 ERA). First pitch will be at 7:20 p.m. in Cobb County, 4:20 p.m. back home in San Francisco.

Giants News and Notes:

With Yastrzemski’s return from the Injured left, right-handed pitcher Landen Roupp, who had been called up prior to Sunday’s game against the Dodgers, was sent back down to Triple-A Sacramento.

The Giants claimed left-handed pitcher Kolton Ingram off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals. Ingram will report to the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels.