ATLANTA -- Earlier this month, manager Tony Vitello made it clear that left-hander Carson Whisenhunt had pitched well enough at Triple-A Sacramento to put himself next in line for a starting opportunity with the Giants.
That opportunity arrived on Wednesday, when the Giants found themselves playing a split doubleheader against the National League East-leading Braves following Tuesday night’s rain-suspended series opener at Truist Park.
Both clubs received a 27th man for Game 2 of the twin bill, creating an opening for the Giants to call up Whisenhunt to make a spot start. The 25-year-old pitching prospect didn’t disappoint, giving up two runs over five-plus innings in his season debut to help the Giants beat the Braves, 7-5, and sweep both ends of the doubleheader.
“I thought our guys’ effort was phenomenal,” Vitello said. “I think a lot of guys, obviously Whiz being one of them, made it a good day.”
The Giants, who used three homers to power a 7-2 win in Game 1, continued to lean on the long ball in the nightcap, with Willy Adames, Luis Arraez and Bryce Eldridge each going deep to fuel a four-run rally against Braves right-hander JR Ritchie in the top of the second.
“If you see the lineup, you know that we’re capable of doing that,” Adames said. “It’s funny when you see all the negative narratives out there. But when you look at the lineup, you have dudes that have done it in the past. And now we have younger guys that are doing it, too.”
It marked the first time the Giants have homered three times in a single inning since Aug. 18, 2025, when Heliot Ramos, Rafael Devers and Wilmer Flores teamed up to accomplish the feat against the Padres.
Devers opened the scoring with an RBI double in the top of the first before Adames made it 2-0 with a leadoff blast in the second. It was the second home run of the day for Adames, who is now up to 13 on the year, second on the club behind Casey Schmitt (15).
Arraez went on to double the Giants’ lead by cranking a two-run shot out to right field for his third blast of the season and his first since May 17. The three-time batting champion knew it was gone off the bat, taking a second to look directly into the Giants’ dugout before beginning his home run trot.
“We were giving him crap in the dugout because he pimped it,” Adames said. “When he knows, he knows.”
Eldridge made it back-to-back shots by knocking another misplaced fastball from Ritchie off the top of the fence in left-center field, extending the Giants’ lead to 5-0. It was the sixth home run in 33 games for Eldridge, who also extended his on-base streak to 22 games.
Eldridge is only the second Giants hitter 21 years or younger to reach base in that many consecutive games in San Francisco history, joining Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, who put together a 25-game run in 1959.
The outburst of power created an early cushion for Whisenhunt, who leaned on his fastball-changeup combination to put up zeros through his first five innings.
Whisenhunt, the Giants’ No. 11 prospect per MLB Pipeline, returned to the mound for the sixth, but he faced three batters without recording an out. He gave up three consecutive singles to Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley, the last of which finally got the Braves on the board. JT Brubaker came in to replace Whisenhunt and allowed an inherited runner to score on Dominic Smith’s sacrifice fly, cutting the Giants’ lead to 5-2.
“It was a quick turnaround from finding out yesterday, but everything was good,” Whisenhunt said. “It was obviously not the best it could have been, but for what I had to work with there, I felt pretty solid.”
Whisenhunt arrived in Atlanta around 10 a.m. on Wednesday after flying in from Oklahoma City. He was optioned back to Triple-A Sacramento at the conclusion of the doubleheader, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get another shot in the Giants’ rotation soon.
“He came in early this morning with not a lot of rest,” Eldridge said. “To see him do that against the best offense in the league shows what he’s capable of.”
San Francisco tacked on a pair of insurance runs behind Arraez’s two-run single in the top of the ninth, which loomed large after left-hander Matt Gage surrendered a two-run homer to Mauricio Dubón that brought the Braves within three in the bottom half of the inning.
Gage, who was activated off the 15-day injured list on Wednesday after missing 12 games with right knee inflammation, fell into further trouble after giving up back-to-back singles that put runners on the corners with one out. The Giants subsequently turned to right-hander Tristan Beck, who allowed another run to score on a wild pitch but then retired Albies and Riley to close out the game.
Vitello opted to use closer Caleb Kilian in a non-save situation earlier in the day, bringing him in to pitch with a five-run lead in the bottom of the ninth in Game 1. Kilian needed only eight pitches to record the final two outs of the game, but the appearance left him seemingly unavailable to pitch in Game 2.