ATLANTA — Alex Wood’s homecoming was not one to remember.
On a sweltering 94-degree day, Wood earned an early shower while making his first start since 2019 in the area he calls home in the offseason, against the organization that drafted him. With six runs in the first two innings, the Braves quickly put the game out of reach, handing the Giants a 7-6 defeat to send them home from this seven-game trip with a losing record.
Wood lasted six batters into the second inning; they all reached base, and he was yanked without recording an out. He was tagged with six runs over one-plus innings, the shortest outing of his career besides a 2015 start that he left injured after two pitches.
In a series — and a road trip — that was defined by close games, its finale teetered on a blowout.
Wood’s dud put the Giants in 7-1 hole by the end of the fourth inning. He walked two and hit two batters while also allowing six hits, including one of two home runs by Dansby Swanson, raising his ERA over 5.00 for the first time this season.
The deficit proved too large to dig out of, even with scoring rallies in the sixth and the eighth that pulled the Giants within two. All seven games of this trip were decided by two or fewer runs, but the Giants won only three of them.
Joc Pederson unloaded on a mammoth home run with the Giants down to their final out, hammering a pitch from Kenley Jansen 426 feet into the upper concourse in right field that made this only a one-run defeat. The Giants scored the final five runs of the game, and Pederson finished his return to Atlanta 4 for 12 with two home runs.
The Giants’ bullpen gave them a chance at comeback by tossing seven innings while allowing only one run after Wood left the game.
An opposite-field home run from Austin Slater in the fifth was the highlight of the Giants’ day at the plate. Slater, who finished 2 for 4 and was the only Giant with multiple RBIs, got the rare start against a right-hander after Luis González was placed on the 10-day injured list before first pitch with back tightness that also kept him out Wednesday.
The Giants loaded the bases twice but produced a combined two runs out of the prime scoring opportunities. They put runners on base in each of the first four innings but grounded into double plays in each frame.
Mike Yastrzemski’s fourth strikeout of the game ended a bases-loaded opportunity in the sixth, stranding on base Tommy La Stella and Thairo Estrada, who drove in the inning’s two runs. In the first, three straight Giants slapped singles to load the bases after Yastrzemski led off the game with his first strikeout. But Evan Longoria grounded into one of four double plays on the day, ending the inning without a run.
Just like their day at the plate, the Giants’ seven-game trip through Pittsburgh and Atlanta will be defined by its missed opportunities.
The Giants won the first two games of this trip but dropped four of the last five. They looked primed to sweep the Pirates in its first leg, until being walked off by a rookie’s third home run of the game. The series loss in Atlanta — dropping three of four — should sting even more, after two more walk-off losses that each featured their starters go seven innings while limiting a fierce Atlanta lineup to one run.
On the bright side, they return home to face three teams with losing records.
The Giants’ team charter was scheduled to land back in San Francisco around 8 p.m., giving them less than 24 hours to regroup before hosting the Cincinnati Reds to begin an eight-game home stand.
