For many of the San Francisco Giants' pitchers, their 2026 performance must be graded on a curve.

In what has become a nearly all-hands-on-deck scenario, several arms have been early arrivals to the big leagues this year, or have merely been put into situations they weren't quite prepared for.

The team's nucleus of next-generation hurlers, whether it's been because of injury (Carson Whisenhunt) or inconsistency.

The latter has plagued rookie Blade Tidwell since he was recalled a month ago, and that trend continued for the pitcher on Thursday afternoon.

The Giants fell to the Pirates in the daytime series finale, 5-2, to fall to 58-83 on the year, with 21 games to play in what has been one of the worst seasons in San Francisco franchise history. For rookie manager Tony Vitello and his young, emerging ball club, that essentially means they are a lock to lose close to 100 games now. So, there aren't many positives to take away from this months-long disaster. The squad can only chalk up all their remaining contests as a potential learning experience

Tidwell, one of Vitello's former players at Tennesseee, has been one of this year's pleasant surprises. However, he hit a pothole in Pittsburgh, allowing just two runs on two hits while recording five strikeouts and five walks in five innings. It wasn't exactly a terrible performance, but one in which the 25-year-old labored. He had to sweat through a 40-pitch first inning that ground his momentum right out of the gate.

"[I] just didn’t come out the sharpest,” Tidwell told reporters postgame, according to NBC Sports Bay Area's Dylan Grausz. "After coming back in, I knew our bullpen has been hurting, so I had to find a way to get through at least five [innings]."

Vitello's Take on Tidwell

As previously mentioned, Tidwell is one of several of Vitello's college proteges who are part of the Giants' organization today. The duo was a part of the Volunteers' squad that reached the College World Series in 2012. They fell short, but after Tidwell moved on to the minors, his coach would eventually win the title in 2024 before moving on to the bigs himself in late 2025.

So, Vitello has seen the best and worst of Tidwell in the past. During his comments after the loss Vitello stated that Tidwell was simply unable to execute the blueprint that was laid out for him:

"Just to absolutely attack,” Vitello said to NBC Sports Bay Area. "Miss over the middle of the plate. And part of that was making adjustments, but part of it was out of necessity too. If he doesn’t get through the third inning, you might have seen [Christian] Koss or somebody out there before the end of the game. Not to discredit anybody that’s down there, but just based off numbers and things like that.”