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The Giants’ rotation keeps getting younger.
Hayden Birdsong made his first start of the season Tuesday, and fellow 23-year-old Kyle Harrison will join the rotation Saturday when the Giants play their second game of a three-game series in Washington.
Both Birdsong and Harrison competed in spring training for the No. 5 rotation spot that went to 26-year-old Landen Roupp, who’s getting the nod for Friday night’s opener.
It’s quite a shift from the season-opening rotation that included Justin Verlander, 42, and reliever-turned-starter Jordan Hicks, who’s back in the bullpen, replaced by Birdsong.
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The opening for the left-handed Harrison was created when the Giants placed Verlander on the 15-day injured list with a pectoral strain. Harrison earned a recent promotion from Triple-A Sacramento after rediscovering his high-90s fastball and made four relief appearances for the Giants, yielding two runs, striking out seven, and walking three in 5 ⅓ innings.
There was speculation the Giants would call up their best Triple-A pitcher, lefty Carson Whisenhunt, 24, who has dominated Pacific Coast League hitters. In his last four starts, he surrendered just four runs in 28 innings (1.29 ERA) while striking out 28 and walking two.
Whisenhunt isn’t on the 40-man roster, and Harrison is already with the big-league team and made 24 starts for the Giants last season. So Harrison, it is.
After his latest relief appearance, Harrison said in an interview with the Standard that even coming out of the bullpen, he carried a starter’s mentality: “I know what I am at the end of the day. I know I’m a starter.” Manager Bob Melvin said Harrison could get up to 50 pitches in a rotation return.
Logan Webb, 28, is the rotation ace, though he’s coming off a rough start against the Royals, and lefty Robbie Ray, the only 30-something in the rotation (33), has gotten off to a hot start, going 6-0 with a 2.67 ERA in 10 starts.
To fill Verlander’s roster space, the Giants recalled reliever Tristan Beck. They plan to make at least one move on the trip when Jerar Encarnacion is reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Melvin said the slugger could join the club for the final series in a three-city tour when the Giants are in Miami May 30-June 1.