With first career HR in books, Giants' Bryce Eldridge to go for another vs. Pirates

San Francisco Giants fans undoubtedly will hope to see more of the same from top prospect Bryce Eldridge and less from their bullpen when the club closes out a three-game home series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon.

Fifteen outs after starting pitcher Landen Roupp left a scoreless game with one man on base Saturday, the Giants' bullpen served up 12 runs in a 13-3 defeat.

Four of San Francisco's first five relievers allowed runs in a blowout that saw infielder Christian Koss record the final three outs. The Pirates tacked on their final three runs during his mop-up task.

The Giants have lost nine of 11, a stretch during which their bullpen collapsed late in recent road losses to the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.

The San Francisco bullpen has five blown saves in 12 opportunities this season.

With the Giants having traded Patrick Bailey to Cleveland earlier in the day, placing Logan Webb on the injured list and enduring the 10-run shellacking, the team was looking for something to celebrate after the game. That was Eldridge's first career home run.

Called up from Triple-A Sacramento earlier this week, the top prospect had been 1-for-10 before his homer in the fifth inning.

"He's always a bright spot as far as his attitude goes around the park," Giants manager Tony Vitello told reporters after the loss. "It's nice to get a positive feedback for his swings because he hit some balls hard right at guys, too."

Eldridge will go after No. 2 in the series finale against Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler (1-4, 4.76 ERA), who has not faced the Giants in his young career.

Chandler has an impressive outing to follow after Braxton Ashcraft allowed one run on six hits over seven innings. It was the seventh game this season in which Ashcraft has allowed two or fewer earned runs this season. In this case, the only home run he surrendered came on Eldridge's first career homer.

"I take pride in the fact that I throw a lot of strikes," Ashcraft said. "That's a big thing, getting guys out of the box early, not letting an at-bat extend.

"I was in the bullpen last year and I know how taxing that can be. As a staff, entirely, we've done a really good job of doing our job. Starting pitching going deep in games, it takes a lot of weight off the bullpen."

Chandler will try to keep the Giants and Eldridge at bay. The 23-year-old will be attempting to snap a personal three-game losing streak during which he's gotten a total of five runs of support. He held the Arizona Diamondbacks to two runs in five innings Tuesday in Phoenix, a game the Pirates eventually lost 9-0.

Attempting to tame a Pirates team that has won six of eight will be Giants right-hander Tyler Mahle (1-4, 5.00), who was a victim of the San Francisco bullpen in his most recent start last Sunday at Tampa Bay. The veteran shut out the Rays over 5 1/3 innings, but watched the Giants suffer a 2-1, 10-inning defeat.

It was the third time in his past five starts that he didn't allow a run, a stretch in which he has just one win.

The 31-year-old has gone 5-4 with a 3.84 ERA in 13 career starts against the Pirates, whose 20 hits Saturday didn't include a homer.

- Field Level Media