The Royals waited until the last moment to divulge their pitching plans for Wednesday’s series finale against the Giants at Oracle Park. They had plenty of options available to them. They brought Triple-A prospect Luinder Avila along on the taxi squad in case of an emergency — he was stretched out and could’ve started, if needed.

Birdsong allowed one unearned run, struck out four and didn’t issue a walk over five innings to even the three-game series with Kansas City.

Preview the May 20 matchup between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals with odds over/under, game spread, betting lines and more.

Its Wednesday, May 21 and the Royals (27-23) are in San Francisco to take on the Giants (29-20). Daniel Lynch is slated to take the mound for Kansas City against Logan Webb for San Francisco.

Once Bubic exited, the Royals’ bullpen shut the door. Daniel Lynch IV and John Schreiber worked the eighth inning before handing the ball to closer Carlos Estévez, who pitched the ninth for his 14th save.

Hayden Birdsong threw five sharp innings in his first start of the season and the San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Tuesday night. Birdsong (2-0) was moved from the bullpen to the rotation in place of Jordan Hicks and provided just what manager Bob Melvin hoped he would deliver when he made the move.