Whisenhunt’s troubles continue as SF Giants blown out by Guardians

The Giants’ Carson Whisenhunt entered Tuesday night at Progressive Field coming off one of his more encouraging starts of the season. He wasn’t exactly dominant against the Houston Astros last week and teetered on the edge of disaster, but the left-hander featured a legitimate five-pitch mix en route to securing his third win of the season.

Now, it’s back to the drawing board.

Whisenhunt allowed a career-high seven runs (six earned) over four innings as the Giants lost to the Guardians 8-1 on Tuesday night at Progressive Field, an outing that further calls into question whether the rookie left-hander can stick as a starter.

“He gets pretty juiced up out there,” manager Tony Vitello told reporters in Cleveland. “It wasn’t like it was smooth sailing after the first inning, but he pitched better. … He’s gotten beat down the line a couple of times. Maybe I’m trying too hard to spin it positive, but to me, the way he was throwing the ball, it was better as it went on. So, maybe keying on being a little more relaxed in the first inning, a little bit better off.”

While Whisenhunt had a night to forget, the Guardians’ Jo Adell had a night to remember. Beginning with a three-run homer off Whisenhunt in the first, Adell wound up with three hits and a career-high six RBIs. On July 26, Adell also had a two-run home run off Whisenhunt when he still played for the Los Angeles Angels.

Former Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, whom San Francisco traded to Cleveland in May, went hitless in four at-bats with an RBI in his first game against his former team.

The 25-year-old Whisenhunt isn’t capitalizing on his opportunity to earn staying power in San Francisco’s rotation. Over seven starts this season, Whisenhunt has a 7.03 ERA over 32 innings with almost as many strikeouts (23) as walks (20). With Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson expected to join the team Wednesday, it wouldn’t be outlandish for the Giants (51-74) to at least consider having Wilkinson take Whisenhunt’s place in the rotation.

While Whisenhunt had another clunker, fellow rookies Bryce Eldridge and Trent Harris had impressive nights. Eldridge hit his 14th home run of the season as well as a 108.2 mph single, while Harris pitched two scoreless innings with five strikeouts.

Harris, who went undrafted, still has a bloated ERA (7.71) after allowing three runs in his debut, but his 10 strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings are notable for a bullpen in need of strikeout stuff.

The Giants found themselves in an early 3-0 deficit in the bottom of the first when Whisenhunt served up a mammoth blast to Adell, a three-run shot that traveled an estimated 455 feet.

Eldridge chipped into the deficit with a solo homer in the second, but Adell struck again in the bottom of the inning by delivering a two-run single to increase Cleveland’s lead to 5-1.

The Giants had an opportunity to chip into the deficit in the top fourth when they loaded the bases with one out. But catcher Andrew Knizner grounded into an inning-ending double play. In the bottom half of the frame, the Guardians added two more runs on an RBI single from Adell and a run-scoring groundout from Angel Martínez.

Bailey contributed Cleveland’s final run of the night in the bottom of the seventh when Eldridge failed to scoop a throw that would’ve completed an inning-ending double play.