What we learned as Wood carved up in Giants' loss to Pirates originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
SAN FRANCISCO -- In a lot of ways, the Giants saved their season in May. But the month ended with a dud.
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The Giants played one of their sloppiest defensive games of the year and Alex Wood could never stop the bleeding. The Pittsburgh Pirates scored four runs in the second, two more in the fourth and two more in the sixth to pull away with a 9-4 win. The series loss was the Giants' first since a trip to Phoenix from May 11-14.
The Giants went 17-12 in May and finished the month 28-28 overall, riding strong pitching and a rookie wave back into the National League playoff race. After a day off, they'll open June's schedule against one of the best teams in the other league. At 35-20, the Baltimore Orioles are tied for the second-best record in baseball.
Here are three things to know about the final day before the electric shavers come out:
Sports
Welcome Back
Luke Jackson's first appearance since the 2021 World Series couldn't have gone much better. Jackson was activated on Tuesday and made his Giants debut in the seventh inning a day later, bringing an official end to 14 months of rehab after Tommy John surgery.
After a liner to right for the first out, Jackson struck out Jack Suwinski and Chris Owings. He threw nine breaking balls, eight of which landed for strikes, and hit 96 mph with his fastball. When Jackson returned to the dugout, he got a hard high-five from manager Gabe Kapler.
The Giants signed Jackson to a two-year deal in the offseason, hoping he could eventually return to a late-innings relief role. He closed for the Atlanta Braves at one point and generally pitched in the seventh and eighth in 2021.
Rookie Rally
The bottom of the sixth was a few feet from being one of the most exciting innings of the year for a team now heavily relying on rookies.
Blake Sabol led off with a single, his second of the day against his former team, and took third on Patrick Bailey's single to right. Casey Schmitt nearly made it a three-rookie homer when he hit a deep fly ball to left, but Bryan Reynolds made a leaping grab at the wall. Schmitt was held to a sacrifice fly.
The Giants started four rookies on Wednesday, with those three joined by Brett Wisely.
Chopping Wood
Wood wasn't hit particularly hard, but the Pirates put the ball in play and found holes, leaving him with an ugly line. Wood gave up eight hits in 4 1/3, most of which were bouncers to the left side that either got between J.D. Davis and Schmitt or got down the line for extra bases. He was charged with six earned runs, a season-high.
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Wood has generally pitched well this season, but he's still looking to get deeper into games. He has made seven starts and gotten through at least five innings just once.
