Tidwell delivers career-best start, but Giants can't make it stand

BOSTON -- Blade Tidwell graduated from the Giants' Top Prospects list earlier this month as he crossed the 50-career-innings threshold. The righty proved he belonged in the big leagues Saturday night at Fenway Park, but the bullpen coughed up the lead in a 3-2 walk-off loss to the Red Sox.

In his sixth MLB start, Tidwell pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and racked up a career-high seven strikeouts. He scattered three hits, walked two and hit a batter across 93 pitches (57 strikes) before a sold-out crowd of 36,478.

“This park had a real electric atmosphere,” Tidwell said. “I haven’t been part of an atmosphere that loud, probably, maybe [the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.], in college. It was definitely memorable. The history behind this park, it was cool.”

A second-round Draft pick in 2022 by the Mets out of Tennessee -- where he played for his current manager, Tony Vitello -- Tidwell joined the Giants’ organization the day before the 2025 Trade Deadline alongside former college teammate Drew Gilbert and righty José Buttó for reliever Tyler Rogers.

Tidwell made four appearances (two starts) with the Mets before the trade. He spent the remainder of the season at Triple-A Sacramento. Tidwell broke camp with San Francisco this spring and made eight appearances out of the bullpen in April before returning to Sacramento, where he joined the rotation. Recalled in early August after the Giants dealt starters Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle, Tidwell allowed nine earned runs over 15 innings across his first three Giants starts.

Vitello described Tidwell’s performance on Saturday as “consistent from the beginning to the end.”

“He was relentless in the strike zone early on,” Vitello said, “and then as the game went on, I thought he really manipulated his pitches well … and pitched differently to guys as he got through the order a couple of different times.”

Tidwell struck out three of the first four batters he faced, cruising through the first two innings, allowing just an infield single.

“I wanted to be the aggressor, not the one on the other side of that,” he said.

Willy Adames provided a Giants opening blow to back him. The shortstop bashed his 21st home run of the season off Patrick Sandoval’s 1-0 sinker, sending it over the Green Monster a Statcast-projected 403 feet at a season-best 109.4 mph exit velocity.

The Giants added another in the third. After nine plate appearances without reaching base to begin the season, journeyman catcher Andrew Knizner cracked his first home run (and hit) of the year, swatting a 2-0 fastball to left-center field. Knizner finished with a career-high-tying three hits, the first time he accomplished the feat since 2022.

“Obviously, he was great at the plate, but it was great the way he approached how to attack hitters before in the pregame meeting,” Tidwell said. “He was great at calling the game and great all-around.”

Tidwell caught a break in the bottom of the frame after plunking Mickey Gasper with one out. Nick Sogard followed with a single, but the ball plunked his teammate running to second base for an out. Sogard advanced on a Ceddanne Rafaela walk, but Tidwell froze Wilyer Abreu with a sinker high in the zone for an inning-ending strikeout.

In the fourth, Tidwell allowed a leadoff single to Willson Contreras but responded by striking out Adley Rutschman and coaxing Caleb Durbin into a 4-6-3 double play. He retired the side in order in the fifth. In the sixth, he allowed a leadoff walk to Nick Sogard, and after a mound visit, induced a groundout. Tidwell finished his outing with a career-high seventh strikeout before being relieved by Carson Seymour, who got Contreras to line out.

Despite the stinging loss, some not-so-bad things stand out.

“I said to a couple guys, there’s a lot of really good points in that game that are going to get overlooked because of that last play,” Knizner said. “Sometimes, you’ve gotta just take a look at the whole game. Obviously, you want to win every single game, but there’s a lot of positives you can take from it.”