Giants, Stratton hit rough patch, lose third straight
Team has been outscored 24-5 in three straight defeats
PHILADELPHIA >> In the midst of a 98-loss season in 2017, an early June visit to Philadelphia left a scuffling Giants team dejected as they dropped two of three to the last-place Phillies.
In a season marked by low points, that was rock bottom.
Though the 2018 Giants remain above .500 at 19-18, they certainly anticipate this year’s series at Citizens Bank Park is the most suffering they’ll have to endure. After an 11-3 loss, their second blowout defeat in three nights, they hope their fortune won’t get worse.
Manager Bruce Bochy’s squad won’t allow its threegame losing streak to shake a big-picture perspective, and considering the Giants opened a 10-game trip with three straight wins, there’s still plenty of ways for the Giants to ensure their East Coast travels yield success. Doing so after their last three contests, though, will require remarkable resilience.
“You can look at these three games and let that define what’s happened on the trip,” Bochy said. “But we’re .500 against two pretty good teams and we’ve just got to bounce back. We’ve still got a chance to have a good road trip here.”
When starter Johnny Cueto joined ace Madison Bumgarner on the Giants’ disabled list with a sprained ankle in early April, righthander Chris Stratton pitched as if he belonged at the top of a rotation rather than a player who had to solidify his job with a strong spring training.
But with Cueto out for at least 6 to 8 weeks with an elbow sprain and Bumgarner expected to miss another month, Stratton did not meet the same standards in Wednesday’s defeat.
The right-hander lasted 4 2/3 innings and surrendered five earned runs before the Phillies unloaded on rookie reliever Pierce Johnson for six earned runs. After outscoring the Braves 24-9 over the weekend, the Giants have lost three in Philadelphia by a combined score of 24-5.
“You’re talking about just the opposite happening,” Bochy said. “Give them credit. They’re pitching well. You’re not quite pitching as well, and you’re not getting hits with runners in scoring position. You look flat.”
Two outings after Stratton allowed a career-high six runs in 1 1/3 innings against the Dodgers, the Phillies became just the second team to tag him for more than three earned runs in a start in his career.
“I guess you would say (Stratton) is one of our established guys,” Bochy said. “He’s been throwing the ball well, had one hiccup, but they got the timely hits. We’re hoping to get six out of him, but he just couldn’t get through that fifth.”
San Francisco didn’t score against starter Nick Pivetta. He needed 29 pitches to escape the first inning, but after allowing a pair of oneout singles, the right-hander struck out Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria. A failure to make Pivetta pay for firstinning location mistakes proved costly, especially considering Pivetta surrendered six earned runs in one inning in his last start. Once the right-hander settled in, he cruised against a Giants lineup that has struggled to make contact all series.
The first time Cueto joined Bumgarner on the disabled list, Stratton threw seven innings of scoreless ball to quiet the Padres at Pecto Park. Stratton’s ability to shut down the Diamondbacks with seven more innings the day after Cueto returned helped keep the Giants afloat, but this time, errant command prevented Stratton from ending the Giants’ losing streak.
“I just think overall I didn’t do a good job of commanding the fastball,” Stratton said. “That put us in some bad counts and you just can’t walk people. I don’t know how many three-ball counts I had, but I feel like it had to be a lot.”
After back-to-back off nights from the offense, Bochy attempted to shake up the lineup by sending Brandon Belt out to left field and starting Pablo Sandoval at first base. Sandoval finished 1 for 4 with an error.
• The series-finale against the Phillies will not be broadcast on television and is only available to viewers on Facebook. To watch Thursday’s game, viewers must log into a Facebook account and search for “MLB Live.”