Jorge Soler started the game with the longest home run of the season in Major League Baseball. Rookie Hayden Birdsong had a career-high 12 strikeouts as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Sunday.
Soler hit a 478-foot home run on the fourth pitch of the game, marking his 11th homer of the season and giving the Giants an early lead.
Tyler Fitzgerald added his second home run of the series and fourth of the year in the third inning. Matt Chapman scored on a passed ball in the fourth inning, extending San Francisco’s lead to 3-0, which they held onto for the remainder of the game.
Birdsong, in his fifth career start, did not allow a hit until Brendan Rodgers hit a two-out, two-run homer in the fourth inning.
The 22-year-old right-hander pitched six innings, his longest outing since joining the team on June 26. He recorded the most strikeouts by a San Francisco pitcher this season.
“I was consistently hitting my curveballs, and my slider was working well today,” Birdsong commented. “I knew Rodgers was looking for a slider, but I didn’t place it quite right, and he managed to hit it.”
Camilo Doval secured his 18th save by pitching the final three outs of the game.
Giants manager Bob Melvin was ejected before the game started, along with bench coach Ryan Christensen, after delivering the lineup to home plate umpire Alex MacKay.
“I probably spoke too much,” Melvin admitted. “Umpiring is a tough job, and I know that. I didn’t plan it, it wasn’t intentional. I probably crossed a line.”
