SAN FRANCISCO — There are no adjectives in the win-loss column. A win is a win; a loss is a loss. Explanations reside elsewhere.
The Giants did not do the things conducive to winning baseball on Friday night against the Atlanta Braves at Oracle Park. Their starter, Hayden Birdsong, walked a season-high five batters. Birdsong and Erik Miller each plunked a batter. They went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Ryan Walker allowed a game-tying, two-run homer to Matt Olson in the seventh inning. They cost themselves three outs on the bases, two being a product of pickoffs.
No, the Giants did not play a clean, crisp game. They won, regardless. Tyler Fitzgerald, who was picked off to end the ninth inning, scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th on a wild pitch. San Francisco beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4, improving to a perfect 3-0 since Buster Posey’s roster shakeup.
“It’s not our cleanest game of the year, but finding a way to win at the end. We’ve done that plenty of times here at home,” said manager Bob Melvin. “You put away the mistakes and everything that’s gone on over the course of the game and try to get one run in the ninth. How we did it was a little unorthodox but we’ll certainly take it after maybe not playing our cleanest game.”
Fitzgerald, in trying to use his elite speed, contributed to that lack of cleanliness. He reached base with two outs in the ninth to set the table for Heliot Ramos, San Francisco’s hottest hitter, but was picked off by Pierce Johnson to send the game to extras.
Fitzgerald explained that he was trying to be aggressive in that situation, knowing he’d be the automatic runner on second base if he got thrown out or picked off. Fitzgerald added that he tried to use a “vault lead,” which is when a baserunner does a small hop before the pitcher delivers the ball that allows him to get a better jump.
“Last year, that would’ve bothered me a little bit more but I was being aggressive in that situation with two outs,” Fitzgerald said. “Trying to take a vault jump to second and he just made a good play. I did all my homework. I kind of had his timing down, but he held it a little bit longer.”
After being picked off to end the ninth, Fitzgerald stood on second base as the automatic runner to begin the 10th. Fitzgerald advanced from second to third on Jung Hoo Lee’s one-out groundout, then dashed home with ease when catcher Sean Murphy couldn’t corral Johnson’s 1-2 curveball to Wilmer Flores, giving the Giants their third straight win.
This isn’t the first time Fitzgerald has scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch. Fitzgerald accomplished the same feat against the Toronto Blue Jays last year on July 9, 2024, and he said that play was on his mind as he stood on third base.
“(Johnson) was throwing a lot of curveballs, so I kind of had a feeling that maybe one might hit the dirt,” Fitzgerald said. “And if that guy’s curveball hits the dirt, there’s no stopping it. And then (third base coach) Matt Williams did a great job of reminding me, ‘Hey, this guy’s going to throw a lot of curveballs.’ It was in the back of my mind, for sure.”
Fitzgerald’s sprint home helped wash away what had been a sloppy nine innings of baseball.
Birdsong entered Friday having not walked more than two batters in a single outing this season, his walk rate having cratered from 13.7 percent last season to 7.5 percent this season. Against Atlanta, he inexplicably lost his command.
The 23-year-old cruised through the first three innings, working around two walks and striking out four batters. In the fourth, he lost the zone. Birdsong gifted the Braves a rally by plunking Matt Olson and walking Marcell Ozuna and Ozzie Albies. Atlanta cashed in as Sean Murphy hit a sacrifice fly — a fan threw a ball onto the field during the play — then Michael Harris drove in a run with a single.
Birdsong went out for the fifth despite his erratic fourth, but Melvin went to reliever Tristan Beck with one out after Birdsong allowed a single to Ronald Acuña Jr. and walked Olson. Beck stranded both runners and kept the one-run lead intact, getting an assist from Yastrzemski when center fielder Jung Hoo Lee appeared to lose Ozzie Albies’ inning-ending fly out in the lights.
“I wish I could tell you, honestly,” Birdsong said of why he couldn’t find his command. “It’s one of those things that happens occasionally. Hopefully, we can build off it and learn from those mistakes.”
San Francisco took a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning but lost that lead when Ryan Walker hung a slider to Olson, who went a two-run shot into the right-field arcade to tie the game at four apiece. The Giants had their chances to reclaim the lead in the bottom of the seventh against Craig Kimbrel, who made his first appearance with Atlanta since 2014, but cost themselves twice on the bases.
Heliot Ramos led off the inning with a single but was thrown out trying to steal second. Lee followed Ramos by drawing a one-out walk but was picked off at first base. Fitzgerald suffered that same fate two innings later. By the 10th, all those blunders faded into the background of their third win in three tries since Posey’s shocking flurry of roster moves.
An ugly win, yes, but a win all the same.
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