San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Giants Rookie Shares Thoughts After First Career Win
The San Francisco Giants called up Hayden Birdsong on June 26 to make his major league debut after posting a 2.51 ERA in 13 minor league starts to begin the year. His debut was about what you would expect from a rookie: 4.2 innings, three earned runs allowed and five strikeouts. It ended in a no-decision, but his second start against the vaunted Braves offense would earn him that coveted win.
In five innings in Atlanta, Birdsong allowed two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out five. Following the game, Birdsong spoke to the media about his outing and what it meant to him.
After falling just shy of five innings in his first start, Birdsong had one big goal: get through five.
“I was like, ‘I’m finishing my inning.’ Im not coming out in 4.2 again. Obviously, it worked out, I had less pitches,” the rookie said.
Birdsong threw ten less pitches in his outing, which allowed him to work with some more wiggle room to reach that five inning mark. In doing that, he was allowed to reflect on what his two big league starts have taught him about himself.
“I’ve learned that I can compete at this level and these guys around me are more than willing to play behind me and I love that. They’re very welcoming to me and I’m very grateful for that,” Birdsong remarked.
Not only do his teammates suport him, but his family made the trip to Atlanta to see him pitch.
“I can’t describe it. It’s great. Honestly, I had more people here than I had in San Fran last week, a lot more of my friends, a lot more of my buddies,” he said of the support. “Very thankful they could make it down, it’s a lot closer, obviously. They don’t have to drive 25, 30 hours whatever it is from home.”
The Illinois native had his friends and family there for his first big league win, which is very special. The only thing that comes close is the gatorade shower you traditionally get after such a big accomplishment, but Birdsong had some different thoughts on his.
“At first, I was kind of freaking out cause I have my one pair of contacts that I have in my eyes right now. I’ll get more tomorrow, but I was like ‘Oh god,’ they started to burn and I was like ‘please don’t mess my contact up,’” he joked. “But it was great. I loved it.”
The Giants have been in desperate need of pitching with so many injuries, and the team needed a player like Birdsong to come up and make quality starts. As one of their top prospects, he is doing so and rightly got to celebrate on Tuesday. Now, it’s back to the Wild Card chase.
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The San Francisco 49ers today announced they have signed DL Gracen Halton to a four-year deal. With the signing, the 49ers now have all eight of the team’s 2026 draft picks under contract.
Halton (6-3, 293) was the first of two fourth-round draft picks (107th overall) selected by the 49ers in this year’s draft out of Oklahoma. He appeared in 47 games (10 starts) over four seasons at Oklahoma (2022-25) and finished with 84 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and two passes defensed. In 2025, he appeared in 13 games (seven starts) and tallied 33 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, two passes defensed and one forced fumble (returned for a TD), earning Second-Team All-SEC honors. In 2024, he appeared in 13 games (three starts) and recorded 30 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss, 5.0 sacks and two forced fumbles. In 2023, he appeared in 11 games and tallied 11 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. As a true freshman in 2022, Halton appeared in 10 games and recorded 10 tackles and 1.0 tackle for loss.
A 22-year-old native of San Diego, CA, Halton attended St. Augustine (San Diego, CA) High School.
San Francisco, CA
Multiple people lose eyes, hands in illegal fireworks-related injuries in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco emergency departments and first responders experienced a sharp increase in serious injuries over the Fourth of July weekend, with illegal fireworks and electric scooter crashes contributing to some of the busiest days in recent years.
At Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, medical teams treated a wave of patients suffering severe trauma. In one incident, bystanders rushed to help a person who was bleeding heavily after a hand injury. A 911 dispatcher described the call as “Extreme Trauma. Hand injury.”
Dr. Christopher Colwell, chief of emergency medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, said surgeons worked to treat patients with devastating injuries.
“We are able to do a lot with and sometimes save the function of the hand and eye. Unfortunately, there are injuries that exist every year where we are not able to do that even with the expertise that we have,” Colwell said.
MORE: SF police in riot gear crack down on 4th of July illegal fireworks shows: ‘It was crazy’
According to Dr. Colwell, four people lost eyes, five lost hands and at least 15 people suffered serious injuries related to electric scooters over the weekend.
“We saw a lot of electric scooter accidents. And I think part of it was that their traffic was such that that was a more efficient way of getting around town. But we also learned very clearly that the combination of electric scooters and how fast you can go in San Francisco, particularly going downhill along with not wearing a helmet and adding alcohol on board, is a really bad combination,” Colwell said.
ABC7’s data team reviewed San Francisco EMT data and found that medical incidents on July 4 and July 5 were about double the number reported during the same period in 2025.
Lt. Mariano Elias of the San Francisco Fire Department said emergency crews handled significantly more calls than usual.
“We had almost 200 more calls than we normally have so we had roughly 576 calls in a 24-hour period,” Elias said.
MORE: Over 400 people arrested during chaos at Newport Beach July 4th celebrations, police say
Illegal fireworks activity also sparked fires across the city. Firefighters responded to Telegraph Hill, where crews quickly contained a blaze.
“We did have two house fires that night on the 4th of July, due to fireworks activities,” Elias said.
City officials estimated that more than 100,000 people were in San Francisco to watch Fourth of July fireworks, creating traffic congestion that complicated ambulance response efforts.
“All the gridlock between, people coming and going from, the Golden Gate Bridge. The city was very impacted on the streets. So that was an issue. The one particular ambulance did, involve themselves in an accident. So, someone hit the ambulance. So that patient had to be transported and moved to a different ambulance,” Elias said.
First responders warned that illegal fireworks activity typically continues for days after the Fourth of July and urged the public not to take unnecessary risks.
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