DENVER — With time winding down to solidify their position in the playoff race, the Giants were in desperate need of a shot in the arm when they arrived at Coors Field Sunday morning after dropping their first two games of the second half to the worst team in the National League.
Whether it was Bob Melvin’s pregame ejection, Jorge Soler’s mammoth leadoff home run that followed shortly thereafter or the electric six innings from rookie right-hander Hayden Birdsong, the Giants got what they needed to eke out a win over the Rockies, 3-2, and avoid an embarrassing three-game sweep.
No more than 15 minute after Melvin was ejected during the pregame lineup exchange, Soler launched the fourth pitch of the game from Colorado starter Ryan Feltner halfway up the seats in center field, opening a 1-0 lead that the Giants would not relinquish behind the strongest effort of Birdsong’s young career.
The fourth leadoff home run of Soler’s career, the mammoth moonshot traveled an estimated 478 feet, the longest home run in MLB this season and the longest of Soler’s career, two feet short of Alex Dickerson’s home run in the same venue for the longest by a Giants player in the Statcast era (since 2015).
Receiving his second straight start after homering and doubling in a two-RBI effort Saturday, Tyler Fitzgerald padded the Giants’ lead with his second home run in as many games to lead off the third inning, and Matt Chapman scored on a passed ball the next inning to extend their advantage to 3-0.
The only damage the Rockies were able to muster against the Giants’ 22-year-old rookie in his fifth major-league start came on a slider that he hung to Brendan Rodgers, who punished it for a two-run home run in the fourth inning, after issuing one of his two walks to Ryan McMahon.
Birdsong was otherwise unhittable, in the most literal definition of the word.
Completing a career-high six innings, Birdsong struck out 12 batters, including six of the final eight batters he faced after Rodgers’ home run. The last Giants pitcher to record a dozen punchouts in one game was Logan Webb in his first start of 2023, and nobody as young as Birdsong — 22 years, 326 days — had done it since Madison Bumgarner fanned 12 Astros in a 6-3 win on June 12, 2012.
Combining a fastball that touched 97 mph with a twin bill of breaking pitches, Birdsong generated 27 swings and misses on 98 pitches, matching the Padres’ Dylan Cease — the MLB leader with 159 strikeouts this season — for the most whiffs in one start by any pitcher in the majors this season.
In total, Giants pitchers fanned 15 Rockies, tied for their second-most strikeouts in a game this season.
Melvin’s ejection was his fourth of the season and the 63rd of his career, 16th all-time, but certainly the earliest.
Accompanying bench coach Ryan Christianson for the lineup card exchange at home plate, Melvin proceeded to give a piece of his mind to the umpiring crew led by crew chief Chris Conroy and was tossed, matching legendary hot-head Earl Weaver for the earliest ejection in MLB history.
While rare, they are not the only instances of pregame ejections. In fact, Giants pitching coach Bryan Price was tossed by Jim Reynolds during the lineup card exchange on May 23, 2015, when he was managing the Reds, while griping about calls from the previous day’s game.
Melvin repeatedly expressed his displeasure in the umpiring over the first two games of the series, both from the dugout steps and in postgame interviews.
The hit-by-pitch that put Elias Díaz on base ahead of the Rockies’ two-run home run Friday night Melvin said was a “phantom hit-by-pitch” and that “I haven’t seen an umpire talk a guy into going to first base on a hit-by-pitch, either,” when “the guy is trying to argue that he didn’t get hit by a pitch.”
The same game, Conroy, serving as the first-base umpire, failed to get out of the way of a line drive down the foul line, turning a potential extra-base RBI hit from Brett Wisely into an inning-ending out.
Melvin and Logan Webb both complained about the strike zone, and according to the unofficial Umpire Scorecard Conroy missed 19 ball-strike calls Saturday night that favored the Rockies by 0.32 runs, while Brian O’Nora missed 15 ball-strike calls Friday night that favored the Rockies by 0.74 runs.
The Giants lost both of the first two games of the series, starting the second half in disappointing fashion and possibly adding to Melvin’s frustration.
Immediately after Melvin’s ejection, Soler gave the Giants an early 1-0 lead with his leadoff home run.
The Giants visit Dodger Stadium for their final games against their archrivals this season. LHP Blake Snell (0-3, 6.31), with his reputation as a Dodger killer, will start the opening game of the series Monday (7:10 p.m.) in his first time pitching in the rivalry, after being unavailable when they met in April.
While the Giants expect to add LHP Robbie Ray to their rotation Wednesday, the Dodgers’ rotation is also expected to get a boost with Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow set to be activated from the injured list to start the final two games of the series.
