Whisenhunt's composure helps him outlast early struggles in solid start

SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants left-hander Carson Whisenhunt looked like he might not be long for the game after needing 55 pitches to get through his first two innings against the Astros on Tuesday night.

But the rookie starter managed to find a way to right the ship.

Whisenhunt limited damage early on and ended up pitching into the sixth inning, helping the Giants snap a three-game skid with a 4-1 victory at Oracle Park.

Whisenhunt earned the win after giving up one run on four hits over 5 2/3 innings, matching the longest start of his career.

“I think it showed a tremendous amount of composure to do what he did,” manager Tony Vitello said. “I think once he bought into what he was capable of doing, he seemed to get in a little groove there confidence-wise.”

It was an impressive turnaround considering Whisenhunt entered Tuesday 0-3 with a 10.80 ERA over his last three starts. He didn’t look especially sharp at the beginning of his outing against the Astros, falling into bases-loaded jams in each of the first two innings, but he pitched around traffic and allowed only one run to score on a sacrifice fly by Yordan Alvarez in the second.

“I was just trying to do too much,” Whisenhunt said. “Not trusting myself as much as I should. They’re good hitters, but it doesn’t matter. Hitting is one of the hardest things to do. It’s just attack the zone and make them get themselves out.”

Whisenhunt settled in after that, partly because he went back to a lower arm slot that helped him command his pitches more consistently. He needed 12 pitches to get through the third, five to get through the fourth and 12 to get through the fifth, allowing him to get his pitch count back under control.

Whisenhunt returned to the mound in the sixth and retired the first two batters he faced, though he was pulled after issuing a two-out walk to Daulton Varsho on his 96th pitch of the night.

Whisenhunt has struggled to develop a third pitch to pair with his elite changeup and four-seam fastball throughout his career, but he found success by incorporating more of his sinker against the Astros. He threw the pitch 12% of the time on Tuesday, up from his season average of 2.8%.

“It was really good,” Whisenhunt said. “Obviously, I'm trying to use it more. The more I throw it, the better I’ll get a feel for it and the better it’ll be. But tonight it felt really good.”

The 25-year-old southpaw now has a 6.11 ERA over six starts this year, but he’s expected to get an extended look in the Giants’ starting rotation over the final six weeks of the regular season.

“He’s a guy that wants to win,” Vitello said. “He’s got a lot of intensity to him and sometimes that adrenaline can work against you. The only common thing I see, and this is more like third-grade stuff than anything, is when he’s in a rush with his delivery, he’s not as good. The command is not as good. His stuff is plenty good. He’s done some pretty good things so far. He’s young and he’s learning. He can continue to do things when he’s at his best, but I think sometimes he works against himself, either going too fast mentally or going too fast physically.”

San Francisco tied the game in the bottom of the second, when Rafael Devers drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an opposite-field RBI single from Drew Gilbert.

Drew Cavanaugh, who is expected to take over as the Giants’ starting catcher now that Daniel Susac is on the injured list with a left knee patella fracture, later put San Francisco ahead with a two-out, go-ahead single in the bottom of the fourth. The Giants tacked on a pair of insurance runs via Bryce Eldridge’s solo shot to left-center field in the fifth and Christian Koss’ RBI double to left field in the sixth.

“We’re the type of team that one through nine, we’ve got to have productive at-bats,” Vitello said. “It was a tough loss last night. We haven’t been that great in those situations as the season’s gone on. I don’t know that the winds have teetered so much in our favor, but they did tonight. I feel like our group has been better at responding to difficult nights like last night, and that was one of the best wins of the year, really.”