Regardless of how much the Giants want to have a defined rotation for September and beyond, on-field performance will be the biggest determiner in role.
Tristan Beck, given a true shot to separate himself as a traditional starter, hurt his chances.
In his first MLB start, Beck retired the first 12 hitters against the Braves — the most dangerous lineup in MLB. The results in San Diego couldn’t have been more different.
Beck, the rookie, gave up six runs on nine hits. He couldn’t get through the third inning, needing Alex Wood to freeze the Giants’ deficit at 6-2.
After riding a six-run inning to a victory in the series opener, the Giants couldn’t summon the necessary scoring burst to erase the deficit Beck coughed up. San Francisco (70-65) crumbled to a 7-3 loss in San Diego.
All the biggest stars of the game homered in the first inning: Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, and Wilmer Flores.
Flores’ homer came on a first-pitch fastball from Michael Wacha and soared 419 feet into the upper deck in left field. With it, he became the first Giant to reach 20 home runs on the season.
Soto and Tatis, two perennial All-Stars and pillars of the third-most expensive roster in MLB, went back-to-back against Beck. Tatis is signed to a 14-year, $340 million contract, and Soto could very well earn more than that when he hits free agency in 2025.
Flores inked a three-year, $16.5 million extension with the Giants during last year, when he won the Willie Mac Award. He’s signed to a deal fit for a reliable bench bat, but he’s been the Giants’ best overall hitter in 2023.
Flores’ OPS entering Friday was .879. Tatis’ was .784 and Soto was at .883.
The pair of Padres homers put them up 3-1. Against Beck, they piled on three more across the next two innings, blasting base hits with exit velocities of 103.3, 102.6 and 102.5 mph.
Beck’s sweeper, typically his best pitch, got battered. He didn’t walk or strike out any batters.
Beck likely didn’t falter because he was in a starting role, but pitchers worthy of starting for the Giants — and their unconventional strategy — need to prove consistency. The way the Giants have operated this year, their threshold for what constitutes a starting pitcher is higher than perhaps every other club in baseball; if a pitcher isn’t the best option to get through a lineup three times, they probably won’t be starting games.
While Beck bombed his audition for a rotation spot, Wood pitched well in relief. The only run Wood allowed in three innings came on an unforced error from Thairo Estrada that would’ve gotten the Giants out of the sixth inning.
In Wood’s previous game before Friday, he subdued the vaunted Braves offense — just like Beck did — tossing 3.2 scoreless innings in a down game. He’d been relegated to a short-burst bullpen arm for the better half of August, but has starting experience and 37.2 innings of playoff pedigree in his career.
But now, Wood has gone five games and 12.2 innings without having allowed an earned run.
Wood helped keep the Giants in the game, but their offense didn’t do enough to bridge the gap. Wade Meckler represented the tying run in the sixth inning, but popped up with the bases loaded. In the ninth, the Giants brought up the tying run thanks to a mini-meltdown from Scott Barlow, but Flores grounded into a game-ending double play.
Those two results added up to six of the eight Giants runners left on base.
Although the game didn’t become the home run derby the first inning foreshadowed, the Padres out-hit the Giants 13 to nine for a convincing win.
