SAN FRANCISCO -- The opportunity is there for Carson Whisenhunt, but with that opportunity comes growing pains.
The Giants left-hander dazzled at times Sunday at Oracle Park, using his changeup to keep the Angels off balance early and rack up six strikeouts over his first three innings.
But trouble hit in a span of just three hitters.
Jorge Soler homered on Whisenhunt’s first pitch of the fourth. A walk to Nolan Schanuel followed, and then Whisenhunt caught too much plate with an 0-1 changeup that Jo Adell launched for a 446-foot two-run homer.
That quick three-run burst allowed the Angels to pin a 4-3 loss on the Giants that prevented San Francisco from completing its first sweep of the season.
For Whisenhunt, San Francisco’s No. 12 prospect, who was making just his eighth Major League start, it was the kind of afternoon that stung but might also serve him well moving forward.
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With Trevor McDonald possibly out for the season with an elbow injury and veteran Robbie Ray expected to be dealt before the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, Giants manager Tony Vitello said Whisenhunt is likely to get an extended audition in the rotation.
“Obviously it's a blessing,” Whisenhunt said of his opportunity. “But it's just trying to go out there and prove I can do it. Outings like today are frustrating, but at the same time, there's positives in it too. So it's just kind of finding those positives in that.”
Whisenhunt went five innings Sunday, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out seven and walking two.
The Angels scored a run in the first when a wild pitch moved Mike Trout to third and allowed him to score on Soler’s fielder’s choice grounder. But the lefty dialed it in after that, striking out the side in the second and collecting two more strikeouts in the third. By then, his six punchouts had already established a career high.
“His changeup was just really good,” Vitello said. “You know, he’s not a huge velocity guy. But the fastball was coming out a little bit more firm, so the complement of those two pitches, I think, was pretty dynamic.”
The changeup is Whisenhunt’s go-to pitch. It helped him win Pitcher of the Year honors in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 2025. When that pitch is dialed in, it makes his low-90’s fastball all the more effective. Sunday, he got 15 swings-and-misses with it -- both tied for the second most whiffs on changeups by a pitcher this year and the most by a Giants pitcher since Tim Lincecum had 17 all the way back on April 21, 2010.
But Whisenhunt knows he needs more than two effective pitches to find consistent success in the Majors. He entered Sunday having won his two previous spot starts in the big leagues this season, June 17 at Atlanta and July 9 against Colorado. But a little variety in his arsenal could have helped against the Angels.
“The pitch to Soler was not where I wanted it,” Whisenhunt said. “Obviously, I’m not trying to leave the fastball middle there. But the changeup I thought was a good pitch [all day]. But I think moving forward, it’s just kind of knowing I can go to the sinker or slider after that too.”
The Giants were quiet offensively most of the day. But, trailing 4-1 in the ninth, they gave the Sunday crowd something to get fired up about. Down to their last out, Luis Arraez smacked a two-run double off the right-field wall to make it 4-3 and put the tying run on second against Angels reliever Mitch Farris.
But Heliot Ramos took a called third strike to end it. That final pitch was well inside, but the Giants were out of challenges at that point. Earlier in the ninth, Willy Adames challenged a 3-0 pitch that was not overturned to exhaust San Francisco’s final challenge.
Adames wound up reaching base on a fielder’s choice and scored on Arraez’s double.
Vitello didn’t have a problem with Adames using the final challenge.
“At the moment, you want a guy to do whatever he's got to do to get on base.”