Giants Baseball Insider

San Francisco Giants Rookie Looks to Right Wrongs vs. Athletics on Saturday

The San Francisco Giants are set to take on the Oakland Athletics in a crucial game on Saturday

Dylan Sanders

Aug 11, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Hayden Birdsong (60) pitches the ball against the Detroit Tigers during the third inning at Oracle Park.
Aug 11, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Hayden Birdsong (60) pitches the ball against the Detroit Tigers during the third inning at Oracle Park. / Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
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The San Francisco Giants were able to break their losing streak on Friday against the Atlanta Braves and will look to start a winning streak as they start a two-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.

The Giants lost four games in a row before Friday's win. Though they are back to a .500 record, their playoff hopes have taken a huge hit thanks to their recent struggles. They have no hopes of winning the NL West and are three games out of a Wild Card spot.

If San Francisco can take advantage of an Athletics squad that has the third-worst record in MLB with a sweep, they'll be feeling much better about their odds.

Tyler Fitzgerald has continued to be a huge source of offense for the team through their struggles, so they will be looking to him to keep the hits coming.

Fitzgerald has a slashing line of .350/.385/.683 in the month of August, making him the hottest bat on the team.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be rookie starter Hayden Birdsong.

Birdsong got off to a nice start to his career but has pitched very poorly in his last two outings. He and the coaching staff will be looking to do things a bit differently on Saturday.

He has a 17.05 ERA over 6.1 innings pitched in his last two starts. Batters are slugging an absurd .345/.424/.897 against him in that time. It's a small sample size, but a worrying sign for the rookie.

The 22-year-old has given up a lot of home runs this season. Luckily for him, the Athletics are one of the weaker teams in the league in terms of power. It could be a nice matchup for Birdsong.

San Francisco's offense will be taking on rookie Osvaldo Bido for the first time.

Bido, unlike Birdsong, has played his best baseball to start August. He has a 1.50 ERA over 12 innings pitched over his last two games. Batters are slashing just .195/.283/.268 against him.

The two offenses that he's faced have been the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, both of which have been better than the Giants as of late.

Oddsmakers have this one slightly into San Francisco's favor as road favorites. The moneyline odds are -120 for the Giants and EVEN for Oakland. The runline is -1.5 with +145 odds. The over/under is at 7.5 which is a bit below average.

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Dylan Sanders
DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders

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