San Francisco Giants rookie Bryce Eldridge will look to build on his first career home run when the team concludes a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon.
After starting pitcher Landen Roupp left a scoreless tie with one man on base Saturday, the Giants’ bullpen imploded, surrendering 12 runs in a 13-3 loss. Four of the first five relievers allowed runs, and infielder Christian Koss recorded the final three outs during mop-up duty as the Pirates tacked on three more runs.
The Giants have lost nine of their last 11 games, with the bullpen collapsing late in recent road losses to the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays. San Francisco’s relievers have five blown saves in 12 opportunities this season.
With the team trading catcher Patrick Bailey to Cleveland earlier in the day, placing Logan Webb on the injured list, and enduring the lopsided defeat, there was one bright spot: Eldridge’s first major league home run. Called up from Triple-A Sacramento earlier this week, the top prospect was 1-for-10 before connecting in the fifth inning.
“He’s always a bright spot as far as his attitude goes around the park,” Giants manager Tony Vitello told reporters after the loss. “It’s nice to get a positive feedback for his swings because he hit some balls hard right at guys, too.”
Eldridge will go for his second career homer in the series finale against Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler (1-4, 4.76 ERA), who has never faced the Giants. Chandler looks to build on a strong outing from Braxton Ashcraft, who allowed one run on six hits over seven innings Saturday. The only home run Ashcraft surrendered came on Eldridge’s historic blast.
“I take pride in the fact that I throw a lot of strikes,” Ashcraft said. “That’s a big thing, getting guys out of the box early, not letting an at-bat extend. Starting pitching going deep in games takes a lot of weight off the bullpen.”
Chandler will try to keep the Giants and Eldridge at bay. The 23-year-old is attempting to snap a personal three-game losing streak during which he has received a total of five runs of support. In his last start, he held the Arizona Diamondbacks to two runs over five innings but the Pirates lost 9-0.
Opposing Chandler will be Giants right-hander Tyler Mahle (1-4, 5.00 ERA), who fell victim to San Francisco’s bullpen in his most recent start last Sunday at Tampa Bay. Mahle shut out the Rays over 5 1/3 innings but watched the Giants lose 2-1 in 10 innings. It was the third time in his past five starts that he didn’t allow a run, yet he has just one win in that stretch.
The 31-year-old has gone 5-4 with a 3.84 ERA in 13 career starts against the Pirates, who collected 20 hits Saturday without a home run.
