ATLANTA—Jorge Soler and LaMonte Wade Jr. hit back-to-back home runs to help the San Francisco Giants open a six-game road trip with a 5–3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.
Heliot Ramos also went deep as San Francisco won for the sixth time in its past eight games. Mike Yastrzemski went 2 for 2 in his return from a stay on the injured list because of a strained left oblique.
Rookie Hayden Birdsong (1–0), making his second career start, pitched five innings of two-run ball for his first big-league win. The right-hander struck out five and walked two.
“It is very special. Now I am in the books,” Birdsong said. “Can’t really thank this team enough for getting behind me and playing as hard as they can.”
Birdsong, an Illinois native who played his college ball at Eastern Illinois, had a crowd of supporters on hand for the performance.
“I can’t describe it,” he said. “It’s great. I had more people here than I had in San Fran last week. A lot more of my friends, buddies, and other family members. I can’t really describe it.”
Camilo Doval earned his 15th save with a perfect ninth inning.
Austin Riley and Sean Murphy hit back-to-back homers off Birdsong in the second. Ozzie Albies added an RBI single for the Braves in the eighth.
San Francisco trailed 2–0 before Soler and Wade connected in the fifth against Reynaldo López. It was Soler’s 10th homer of the season and No. 3 for Wade.
Soler “loves hitting leadoff. He’s done a good job,” Giants Manager Bob Melvin said. “He had pretty good matchup numbers against [López]. You’re seeing a little less chase, and a guy that takes some pitches and takes some walks, and in the meantime, hits some home runs.”
The Braves put runners at second and third with one out in the fifth, but Birdsong struck out Jarred Kelenic and retired Albies on a flyball to left.
“You have to find a different gear to get out of a jam like that,” Melvin said.
The Giants pushed across another run in the sixth. Michael Conforto hit a leadoff double against Dylan Lee (2–2) and advanced on Brett Wisely’s sacrifice. Riley then misplayed pinch-hitter Luis Matos’ hard grounder to third for an error, allowing Conforto to score.
Nick Ahmed drove in Wisely with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, but Albies responded with an RBI single.
Ramos got the Giants an insurance run in the ninth when he hit a drive to right against Jesse Chavez for his 11th homer.
López, who leads the majors with a 1.83 earned-run average, permitted four hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked four.
Riley and Murphy went deep with one out in the second. Adam Duvall nearly added a third consecutive homer, but he had to settle for a double when his drive hit high off the wall in center.
Birdsong managed to get out of the inning by inducing two flyouts.
