San Francisco Giants Send Down Struggling Former Stanford Pitcher

The San Francisco Giants are on the verge of hitting panic mode. A hot start to the season that resulted in expectations for a playoff push have since changed, with the Giants enduring a tough stretch since June that has seen them lose their hold on an NL Wild Card spot and fall even further down in the NL West standings.

Now, the Giants are making moves that they hope will mitigate their struggles and get them back into contention for the final stretch.

Their most recent batch of moves involved former Stanford Cardinal star, Tristan Beck, who was optioned to Triple-A on Tuesday, following the team's loss to the Atlanta Braves the day before. Beck, whose last two outings have been scoreless, has struggled overall in his last 15 games, posting a 5.68 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP in that span.

Beck's struggles are most highlighted by an outing that he put together on July 9, where in only 1/3 of an inning, he allowed five hits and six runs in a 13-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in his final outing before the All-Star break. But Beck really struggled in June despite only making just three appearances, allowing five runs on seven hits through 6.1 innings of work.

Overall on the season, Beck has a 1-0 win-loss record with a 5.68 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP through 10 appearances, and despite putting together a strong month of May, he was failed to be the key part of the bullpen that the Giants need him to be.

In addition to Beck, the Giants also sent down RHP Hayden Birdsong while calling up Carson Seymor and Sean Hjelle to fill the roster spots. Originally one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, the Giants have hit a major rough patch with their staff and hope that these moves will help them return to where they'd been earlier in the season.

The recent decline of the pitching staff coupled with the Giants' season-long run-scoring issues have combined to give San Francisco a six-game losing streak entering play on Tuesday. The Giants rank 22nd in runs scored this season, and most of the teams around them are having pretty rough seasons.

Sitting at 52-49 and seven games out of first place in the NL West, while being 3.5 games out of a wild card spot, the Giants have a lot of work to do if they want to return to where they were, but have plenty of time to redeem themselves. But, it will take a very strong rest of July, August and September if they want to see their fortunes turn around.

A native of Corona, California, Beck chose to stay in-state and committed to play college baseball at Stanford. A key part of the program's pitching staff during his time there, Beck's best season came as a senior, going 8-4 with a 2.98 ERA in 15 starts.

Following a strong career at Stanford, the Atlanta Braves selected him in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, but he was eventually traded to the Giants prior to the 2019 season in a deal that sent Mark Melancon to the Braves.