Giants’ Hayden Birdsong looks to make impression vs. Rockies

While the Colorado Rockies host the San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon, plenty of attention will be 1,800 miles away at Cooperstown, N.Y., where franchise icon Todd Helton will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Helton is the first player to make the Hall of Fame after playing his entire career in Colorado, and his induction is a reminder of better times for the Rockies. They are struggling this season but have a chance for a series sweep against National League West rival San Francisco.

The Giants will send Hayden Birdsong (1-0, 3.72 ERA) to the mound in Denver while the Rockies are scheduled to counter with Ryan Feltner (1-9, 5.36) in a matchup of right-handers.

San Francisco has stumbled to start the second half of the season, a trend that has been an issue the past three years. The Giants will rely on Birdsong, a rookie with four career starts under his belt, to prevent them from dropping the first three games after the All-Star break.

Birdsong’s arrival was necessitated by injuries to the rotation, notably Robbie Ray and Blake Snell. Birdsong made his debut on June 26 against the Chicago Cubs and allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings.

He got his first major league win six days later after tossing five innings against the Atlanta Braves. Birdsong has yet to pitch beyond five innings but has not allowed more than two earned runs in his last three starts.

Birdsong, 22, has never faced Colorado and could be headed back to the minors, but he has made an impression on manager Bob Melvin.

“He seems more and more comfortable every time he goes out there,” Melvin said. “He’s pitched well. There was a need for us. I’ve said often, he’s only had a couple of starts in Triple-A and he’s come up here and performed pretty well for us. We have big expectations for him down the road. We’ll see how it works out when we start to get some guys back.”

While Birdsong is trying to do enough to stay in the majors, Feltner is hoping to end a stretch of three months without a win. He earned the victory at Toronto on April 12 and is 0-8 with eight no-decisions since beating the Blue Jays. Feltner is coming off a tough outing at the New York Mets on July 13 when he walked five batters in 3 2/3 innings.

Feltner has had starts that show he’s close to getting an elusive win and has tried not to get frustrated.

“That’s a result thing that I try not to pay too much attention to, but I definitely hope it turns,” he said.

One of those losses came at San Francisco on May 17 when the Giants touched him up for five runs on seven hits in four innings. It was his third career start against them, and he is now 0-2 with a 6.19 ERA in those outings.

Feltner likely won’t have catcher Elias Diaz behind the plate on Sunday. Diaz left Saturday’s game with right calf tightness, and manager Bud Black said postgame Diaz had a “little bit of a calf strain.”

–Field Level Media