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Reporting from ORACLE PARK
The Giants were hoping their newest lefty, making his Major League debut Monday night, might turn down the noise surrounding their pitching funk.
Carson Whisenhunt, the 24-year-old southpaw selected 66th overall by San Francisco in 2022, was summoned from Sacramento and handed the ball in hopes of stopping the bleeding – but he just couldn’t.
Whisenhunt (ND, 0-0, 7.20 ERA) surrendered four runs in five innings, struck out out three, and walked two before handing a tie game to the bullpen. Carson Seymour (L, 0-1, 4.00 ERA)
entered in the seventh and gave up two runs, extending the Giants losing streak to four straight, and 10 of their last 12.
Whisenhunt admitted he was a ‘little nervous’ but managed to stay pretty calm:
“I was trying not to overthink or overdo anything. The adrenaline was going and I was a little nervous the first two innings. It was kind of nerve wracking waiting the whole day yesterday.”
Former Giant and NL MVP Andrew McCutchen made the difference in the seventh, sending a two-run homer (10) into the bleachers.
Pirates closer David Bednar picked up his 17th save after Willy Adames led off the ninth with a double and scored on Jung Hoo Lee single, mounting a late comeback that once again fell short.
Giants manager Bob Melvin said:
“I thought the ninth inning had one of those feelings where we were going to come back and win the game. Obviously we didn’t finish it off but we had better at-bats overall with guys in scoring position.”
The evening started rough for Whisenhunt who gave up a home run to Pirates second baseman Nick Gonzales (5) in the first inning.
Matt Chapman helped his new pitcher out by smacking an RBI triple in the bottom of the first, scoring Heliot Ramos, who singled to lead off the game, to make it 1-1.
The Pirates (45-62) tacked on three more runs in the second after Whisenhunt walked Alexander Canario and Liover Peguero to open the frame. Shortstop Isiah Kinler-Falefa hit an RBI double before an RBI single by Tommy Pham made it 4-1 Pirates.
Melvin said:
“The first two innings they had him on the run a little bit and scored some runs off of him, but the next three he pitched well. He used his fastball better and he gave us five innings which was huge tonight.”
Mike Yastrzemski walked to begin the second inning, followed by a single from Patrick Bailey to set up Brett Wisely, who knocked in a run with a ground-rule double.
Rafael Devers extended his 8-game on-base streak by walking, and Adames teed off with an RBI single.
The bases were loaded for both Chapman and Jung Hoo Lee, who struck out back-to-back.
Adames tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth inning after Ramos picked up his second hit with a double. Chapman was hit by a pitch, then Lee walked for the second time, loading the bases again. But Wilmer Flores grounded out to end the inning, the second time Monday the Giants (54-53) loaded the bases and failed to score.
Whisenhunt wore No. 88 Monday night, a number no Giant has ever donned. Whisenhunt said the number held significance:
“It was my aunt’s birthday, my dad’s football number, and the year my mom graduated.”
Up Next
The Giants will send future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander (1-8, 4.70 ERA) against Pirates lefty Bailey Falter (7-5, 3.82 ERA). San Francisco is 1-16 in 18 Verlander starts this season. Verlander will try to build momentum after winning his first game of the season last week to end his historic 16-game personal winless streak – the longest in Giants history.
