San Francisco Giants centerfielder Heliot Ramos misses the ball hit by the Washington Nationals Alex Call in the bottom of the sixth inning at Nationals Park in DC on Tue Aug 6, 2024 (AP News photo)
Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024
Nationals Park
Washington, D.C.
San Francisco Giants 5 (57-58)
Washington Nationals 11 (52-62)
Win: MacKenzie Gore (7-9)
Loss: Hayden Birdsong (3-1)
Time: 3:02
Attendance: 17,044
By Stephen Ruderman
The San Francisco Giants got off to a great start and seemed poised to get back over .500, as they scored four runs in the first inning, but Hayden Birdsong could not hold it, and the Washington Nationals ended up winning a wild one by a final of 11-5 Tuesday night at Nationals Park in DC.
The Giants finally had a chance to get back over .500 for the first time since an off day on May 30. They were in a solid position to do so, as had their young phenom, Hayden Birdsong back up and going for them Tuesday night.
There has been some wild weather on the East Coast. Games in New York and Cleveland were postponed, but fortunately, the storm system stayed north of the Beltway, so this game was a go on an overcast but humid night in D.C.
The Giants have been home run happy since they clubbed eight home runs over the weekend at Great American Smallpark in Cincinnati. They also hit two home runs enroute to their 4-1 win in the series opener Monday night.
Tuesday night, they immediately kept it going in the top of the first inning against Nationals’ starter MacKenzie Gore. Tyler Fitzgerald, who led off last night’s game with his 12th home run of the season, flew out to center field to start the game. However, Helliot who was back in the lineup after missing two games due to his jammed right thumb, then hit a home run out to right-center.
Matt Chapman walked with two outs, and then Mark Canha was hit by a pitch. That brought up Michael Conforto, and what did he do? You guessed it; he hit a three-run shot to right-center.
Birdsong had himself a 4-0 lead, and he took advantage of that with a scoreless bottom of the first inning. However, MacKenzie pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the second, the heat and humidity got to Birdsong in the bottom of the second.
James Wood led off the inning with a triple out to center and scored on a ground out by Travis Blankenhorn. Alex Call and Ildemaro Vargas walked, and then Jacob Young fisted a base-hit up the middle to center to knock in Call and make it 4-2.
That brought up CJ Abrams. Birdsong got Abrams to a 1-2 count, and then Abrams took a high fastball from Birdsong and tomahawked it out of the yard to right to suddenly put the Nationals ahead 5-4.
The Giants wasted an opportunity against MacKenzie in the top of the third, but with how home run happy they’ve become, that should be expected.
Birdsong had yet to give up more than three runs in a game, but he had just suddenly just given up five runs in. It may have caught Birdsong and the Giants off guard, but the Nationals were ready to go again in the bottom of the third.
Keibert Ruiz led off the inning with a home run to right to make it 6-4. James Wood then walked, and that ended the night for Birdsong. Wood stole second after Bob Melvin brought in Randy Roriguez, and he scored on a base-hit by Alex Call.
Birdsong gave up seven runs over two-plus innings when all was said and done. It ballooned his ERA all the way up to 4.73, which is unfortunately going to happen when you have a bad outing in just your seventh game. He just needs a few more solid outings like he’s had, and that ERA will be right back down.
Birdsong gave up seven runs over two-plus innings when all was said and done. It ballooned his ERA all the way up to 4.73, which is unfortunately going to happen when you have a bad outing
The Giants got some hope in the top of the fourth. Fitzgerald led off the inning with a base-hit to left, and that brought up Ramos. Ramos singled to left, and then it went under the glove of left-fielder James Wood, which allowed Fitzgerald to score all the way from first.
The Giants had a runner at second and the tying run at the plate with nobody out, and they had a golden opportunity to come right back in a game that had quickly turned into a slugfest. However, Gore retired the side, and the Nationals kept their 7-5 lead.
The Nationals tacked on another run against Rodriguez in the bottom of the fourth to make it 8-5, and the Giants wasted a leadoff double by Matt Chapman in the top of the fifth. Gore set down the side after Chapman’s double to end his night, and that started a streak of 12-straight Giants set down by Nationals’ pitching.
Former Giant Derek Law threw two 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh, and Robert Garcia pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the eighth. The Nationals scored a run off Taylor Rogers in the bottom of the sixth when Call doubled in Wood to make it 9-5. Call hit the double off Sean Hjelle, who had come in for Rogers.
Washington scored two more when Wood hit an opposite-field shot to left-center off Hjelle in the bottom of the eighth to make it 11-5.
Fitzgerald hit a double off Tanner Rainey to lead off the top of the ninth, but of course, Rainey retired the side in order to end the game.
Through this craziness, MacKenzie Gore got the win, and Hayden Birdsong suffered his first major league loss. As I said, this was eventually going to happen to Birdsong. It happens
“Our situational at-bats were terrible tonight,” Melvin bluntly told reporters after the game.
It was true, and with the Giants being completely home run happy right now, it is costing them big time with runners in scoring position. If they are to make a serious run at the Playoffs, they can not continue to play this way.
The Giants fall back to under .500 at 57-58, and their standing in the wild card race will depend on what the Padres do against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. At the moment, the Padres hold a 4-0 lead in the top of the eighth.
The Giants can bounce back and get back to .500 with a win in the third game of this series. Though they’re 3-11 in that position. Blake Snell (1-3, 4.29 ERA), who will be making his first start after his no-hitter Friday, will go Wednesday. Jake Irvin (8-9, 3.56 ERA) will make the start for the Nationals.
Just like Monday night and Tuesday night, first pitch will be at 6:45 p.m. in D.C., 3:45 p.m. PT in San Francisco.
National League Wild Card Standings:
- Padres 62-52 +1.0
- Diamondbacks 61-52 +0.5
- Braves 60-52 —
Mets 59-54 1.5
Cardinals 58-56 3.0
Pirates 56-56 4.0
GIANTS 57-58 4.5
Reds 55-58 5.5
Cubs 56-60 6.0
Giants News and Notes:
Wilmer Flores, who has been dealing with tendinitis in his right knee throughout much of the season, is now done for the year following the non-surgical Tenex procedure on his right quad tendon Tuesday afternoon.
Flores, who turned 33 years old today, and is in his fifth season with the Giants, was hitting .204 with just four home runs. He is a free agent at the end of the season, but he has a $3.5-million player option for next season.
With Hayden Birdsong called up, reliever Spencer Bivens was sent down to the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels.
Catcher Curt Casali was placed on the Paternity List, and catcher Jakson Reetz was called up from Triple-A Sacramento
The weather north of the Beltway is not the only storm system expected to affect our nation’s capital this week. With the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby expected to impact the Beltway starting late Thursday and early Friday, Thursday’s game, which had originally had been scheduled for the late afternoon, had been moved up to 12:05 p.m. EDT/9:05 a.m. PDT.
Major League Baseball News and Notes:
The Chicago White Sox, who tied the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the second-longest losing streak in Baseball History at 21 games, finally snapped their losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Oakland A’s Tuesday night at the Oakland Coliseum.
The White Sox will not catch the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost a modern major league record 23 games in a row.
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