Giants shutout Rockies, 5-0

The Giants’ streak of phenomenal pitching continued this evening as Hayden Birdsong helped the Giants win their third in a row against the Rockies.

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies once again tonight as they shut them out 5-0 to close out today’s double-header.

Hayden Birdsong continued the tradition in this series thus far of striking a bunch of dudes out. After Kyle Harrison struck out 11 on Friday night and Blake Snell struck out 15 earlier in the day, Birdsong kept it going by striking out eight in his five scoreless innings. He may have been sent down earlier this week in roster juggling, but he’s making a strong case to become a permanent fixture in the Giants’ rotation.

The bottom of the first inning felt like a continuation of game one of the series, as Jorge Soler got things started with a single before Mike Yastrzemski hit his second triple of the day to bring him home and get the Giants on the board early. And much like in the first game, Yastrzemski found himself stranded at third for his trouble.

But they kept up the pace in the second inning, as Matt Chapman, the offensive hero of game one, got things started with a double. Brett Wisely followed that up with a double of his own to the left center field wall. David Villar got in the action with a single that advanced Wisely to third, bringing up Curt Casali.

Casali opted to bunt, and it looked initially like it was successful as Wisely was called safe at home. However, upon review, the call was overturned as Wisely, despite doing absolutely everything possible to avoid the tag, ultimately did get swiped on the very edge of his jersey and the call was overturned and Wisely was called out.

Casali would play a huge factor in the fifth inning as well, as he hit a leadoff single that hit off of second base and bounced into the outfield. Mike Krukow on the broadcast mentioned that Casali might go for two, which prompted me to respond with “You better not, you don’t have the legs for that!” To which Krukow responded, almost as if he were in the room, “Annnnd he just remembered that he’s a catcher, so he’s staying at first.” This prompted me to have to pause the game from laughter.

Soler followed that up with a double that advanced Casali to third. A faster man might even have been able to score, but again, he’s a catcher so I don’t begrudge him that. It was the right call, because Yastrzemski then hit a long sac fly out to the right field warning track that scored Casali easily. Heliot Ramos got in on the fun after that, hitting a pop fly that somehow dropped in between three Rockies defenders, allowing Soler to score as well.

Tyler Fitzgerald got the Giants last run of the night, continuing his hit streak and adding on to his total number of home runs for this series with a third, this time a solo shot.

Oh, and just for fun, tonight’s double-header had a concert from local country artist Tyler Rich, from Yuba City, that took place between the two games. Fans may remember that Logan Webb made a cameo in one of Rich’s music videos. Tonight, Webb took the stage with him:

This has been a pretty great weekend of Giants baseball at Oracle Park so far, if you ask me.