Giants drop 7th straight
MILWAUKEE (TNS) – The Milwaukee Brewers are leading the National League wildcard race, but by no means are they a lock to make the playoffs or a popular bet to advance deep into the postseason.
But when the Giants have taken the field against the Brewers this season, it’s clear just how big of a gap there is between a NL contender and a Giants club that fell to seven games under .500 with a 4-3 loss.
Though manager Bruce Bochy’s club only lost by a run Saturday, the Giants haven’t scored more than three in back-to-back games since August 25-26.
While San Francisco’s pitching staff has strung together respectable performances in a hitter-friendly Miller Park, the Giants’ offense simply hasn’t had the firepower to match up with any opponents of late and that was once again the case in Saturday’s defeat.
The Giants are in the midst of a season-high seven-game losing streak and are in danger of dropping every game on a six-game road trip if they can’t salvage today’s matinee.
With Andrew Mccutchen playing for the Yankees and Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford dealing with lingering knee injuries, the Giants started Saturday’s game without the leaders from an offense that was already below average with their names on the lineup card.
While Belt and Crawford did pinch hit, the Giants won’t have the luxury of using Buster Posey, Steven Duggar or Pablo Sandoval to end the losing streak as all three are out for the year.
One of the auditioning talents is Ryder Jones, who cut a three-run deficit to one with a 112-mile per hour laser over the right center field fence in an eighth inning pinch hit appearance.
The eight position players that started against Milwaukee Saturday had combined for 38 home runs this season. On the opposing side, four of the first six hitters in the Brewers lineup had at least 25 home runs heading into their matchup with Giants starter Chris Stratton.
Stratton didn’t give up many hits to the Brewers, but the ones he did were crushed. In five innings of work, the right-hander allowed four hits, but two went for home runs and another was laced down the left field line for an RBI double.
Austin Slater lined an RBI single to left field to put the Giants on the board in the sixth.