San Francisco Giants’ Carson Whisenhunt pitches to a Pittsburgh Pirates batter during the fourth inning of a baseball game Monday, July 28, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)

By Lincoln Juarez

SAN FRANCISCO–McCutchen homers late and leads Pirates to game one win amid Giants’ top pitching prospect respectable debut.

Monday night the Giants, worn out from a three game sweep against the Mets over the weekend, played host to the Pittsburgh Pirates to start the second half of a six game homestand. Falling to 2-7 since the All-Star break, the Giants turned to their top pitching prospect, left-hander, Carson Whisenhunt to get back in the win column. 

The 24-year-old got his contract selected by the Giants Monday afternoon in a series of roster moves sending RHP Sean Hjelle to AAA Sacramento and designating RHP Carson Ragsdale for assignment, clearing up a roster spot for Whisenhunt to make his MLB debut.

With AAA Sacramento, Whisenhunt posted a 8-5 record with a 4.42 ERA, 28 BB, and 86 K. Ranking in the Triple-A top-10 with 97.2 innings pitched at the time of his promotion, the southpaw also led qualified pitchers in ERA. 

Donning the first number 88 in Giants history, Whisenhunt represented his aunt’s birthday, dad’s football number, and the year his mother graduated. Safe to say their presence was felt on and off the field as his family got to enjoy the debut from the stands. 

It took the rookie two innings to shake off the nerves. Following two fly-outs to open up the game, the Pirates’ Nick Gonzales deposited a first-pitch changeup over the left field wall to start the scoring. A harsh welcome to the big leagues for Whisenhunt as the Pirates offense continued to slug in the second. Three more came across to score, two on an Isiah Kiner-Falefa double and one more via Tommy Pham single. Three hits, two walks, and four runs through the first two frames would be the only threat to Whisenhunt. 

In what shaped up to be a productive outing, Whisenhunt received a well-deserved ovation from the 35,000 plus as he walked off the field after five innings, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, and 3 K. He became the first Giants pitcher to start his MLB debut and go at least 5.0 innings in the game since RHP Logan Webb did back in 2019.

After his first big league start, the new Giant gave praise to his catcher Patrick Bailey and his ability to keep him calm while changing the game plan after the Pirates attacked the changeup in the first two innings. Whisenhunt, who is known for his changeup, had to switch things up to throw the Pirates lineup off balance and he prevailed.

2 H, 0 BB, and 0 ER through innings three, four, and five.  

His ability to adjust in-game and trust his relationship with Bailey behind the plate is a good sign for the Giants and hopefully something he can build off in his next outing. He could save the Giants some prospects if he can produce as he did in the minors and they don’t have to trade for another starter.

Prior to the game, manager Bob Melvin acknowledged the holes in the rotation for the Giants and said it was a good opportunity for Whisenhunt to take advantage of. Depending on how they view his five innings of work, we could see the rookie take over one of the vacancies in the rotation. 

The Giants offense, who went 0-for-23 with runners in scoring position over the weekend against the Mets, kept Whisenhunt in the game early on. Responding with a run of their own in the home first on a Matt Chapman triple that got by the diving Alexander Canario in right field allowing Heliot Ramos to score from first. 

In the home second, Yastrzemski led the way with a walk and Patrick Bailey followed with a single placing runners on the corners with no outs. Brett Wisely kept things going with a ground-rule double, scoring Yastrzemski and moving Bailey to third. A few batters later, Willy Adames went with an outside pitch to right field and drove in Bailey to make it a one run game. 

The Giants continued to trail by a run until the fourth, where Heliot Ramos doubled with one out and later advanced to third on a Devers groundout. Willy Adames lined a base-hit to left field, Ramos scored, and the game was tied. 

From Carson to Carson, the right-handed Seymour took over for Whisenhunt in the sixth yielding a hit and a walk, but keeping the Bucs off the board. 

The difference-maker came in the top of the seventh when former Giant, Andrew McCutchen blasted a two-run home run to left on a hanging slider. McCutchen’s 10th home run of the season brought home what wound up being the game’s winning run. 

The Giants fought until the final out in the ninth, putting together a rally that saw Willy Adames score to put them within one. Manager Bob Melvin said postgame that it “just felt like one of those games we were gonna come back and win”. 

Adames had himself a night going 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and three very hard hit balls, one of them right into a Pirates glove. 

With the tying run in scoring position in Jung Hoo Lee and the winning run at first base (pinch-runner Luis Matos), Patrick Bailey dug in with intentions to replicate his heroics he provided a few weeks ago with his walk-off inside-the-park home run to defeat the Phillies. 

Pirates closer David Bednar forced a weak groundball to second base and Bailey was thrown out at first to end the game. 

Still searching for that offensive magic, the Giants dropped their fourth straight and started the homestand 0-4. Another disappointing night with RISP, as the lineup hit a combined 4-for-13 and left a total of 12 men on base. 

With the Padres comeback win over the Mets down in San Diego Monday night, the Giants are now four games out of the final National League wild card spot. 

Justin Verlander (1-8, 4.70) takes to the mound Tuesday night against the Pirates’ LHP Bailey Falter (7-5, 3.82) and aims to keep his winning energy in the air, following his first win of the season last week in Atlanta. 

First pitch at 6:45pm.