The Giants’ winning streak ended at three, as three of San Francisco’s four hits came in the first two innings.
Atlanta and San Francisco traded early runs, but the Giants couldn’t muster much else. Dansby Swanson homered to give the Braves a 3-1 lead, which would’ve been enough given the Giants’ cocooning lineup.
Most notably in SF’s 5-1 loss, Cole Waites made his MLB debut, becoming the first player drafted by the Farhan Zaidi-led front office to play in a Giants uniform. Waites pitched a scoreless seventh inning for San Francisco (68-74).
San Francisco took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Mike Yastrzemski’s double slipped under left fielder Eddie Rosario’s slide and Joc Pederson drove him home with a two-out, two-strike single. But the Braves equalized right away, stringing a double and single together against Jakob Junis.
The Giants threatened to add to their lead in the second when Braves starter Kyle Wright briefly lost his command and loaded the bases. But Yastrzemski flew out to deep left field to end the inning quietly.
That missed opportunity preceded Junis’ biggest mistake of the night. On the first pitch to Swanson, Atlanta’s All-Star shortstop, Junis hung a slider high and over the middle of the plate. Swanson, who is set to hit free agency this winter, socked it 106.7 mph into the left field bleachers for a two-run homer.
Another run scored that inning when Luis González couldn’t corral a line drive in right field; it was a hard-hit ball, but a tough one for Junis to be charged with.
Junis settled in and got through five innings, but the Giants stayed stuck on three hits after the first two innings until Thairo Estrada’s two-out single in the ninth.
San Francisco didn’t advance a runner into scoring position in the third, fourth, fifth or sixth inning.
But then Waites provided intrigue. An 18th rounder from the 2019 draft, Waites rocketed through the Giants’ farm system. He started this season at High-A Eugene, dominating every level until he couldn’t be denied anymore.
With Tuesday, Waites became the second player drafted by the new front office to debut, joining Caleb Kilian — traded to Chicago last year for Kris Bryant.
For his first batter, Waites walked Adrianza, the nine hitter, on four pitches — though he did get squeezed on his first fastball. Ronald Acuña Jr. then tagged him for a lined double. Needing to get out of a big-league jam against the heart of Atlanta’s order, Waites fell behind 3-0 to Swanson.
But Waites spun Swanson into a groundout, got another force-out at home against Austin Riley and ended the inning by winning a battle against Matt Olson.
Waites’ fastball touched 98 mph, but he didn’t generate any whiffs. Braves hitters had him timed up — firing off exit velocities of 104.7, 110 and 98.3 mph — but still came up empty against the rookie.
Evan Longoria and pitching coach Andrew Bailey were shown on the broadcast feeling Waites’ heartbeat in the dugout after the nerve-racking inning. The 24-year-old was able to regulate it well enough to come out of his first MLB action unscathed.