Sluggish lineup falls flat in L.A.

Long game, flight catch up to Giants in loss to Dodgers

LOS ANGELES >> Major League Baseball’s schedule is hardly forgiving at any point during a season, but the stretch the Giants began a week ago figured to provide a daunting challenge for one of baseball’s eldest clubs. On June 8, the Giants started a 17-game slate without an off day and a streak of playing 36 contests in 38 days leading up to the All-Star break.

The Giants didn’t need to say anything about the harm a 16-inning game Thursday followed by a flight from Miami to Los Angeles inflicted. The evidence was clear through their play in Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Dodgers.

“It’s been a pretty tough schedule, I think that’s fair to say,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “As many times as we’ve gone back to the East Coast and the number of games we’ve played on the road. But we still have to pick up our play on the road.”

From a long stretch of weak atbats against Dodger starter Ross

Stripling to a surefire double that Pablo Sandoval’s speed turned into a long single, the Giants looked as if they never had their legs under them at the plate. The same held true on the other side of the field too, as center fielder Austin Jackson dropped a routine flyball at the warning track that became a three-base error in the bottom of the fourth.

It didn’t help the Giants’ cause that three starters needed to sit out Friday’s game due to the damage Thursday’s marathon affair caused.

After catching all 16 innings on a day he wasn’t scheduled to play behind the plate, Buster Posey needed a day of rest. Posey was joined on the bench by, Brandon Belt, who announced he was ready to be reinstated to the roster Friday after missing two weeks following an emergency appendectomy.

Belt received medical clearance and was eager to take the field, but the Giants pushed back his return to today so they could add relief pitcher Pierce Johnson to a 25-man roster that featured 14 pitchers.

Johnson became the ninth member of a bullpen that’s been stretched thin of late, and while his stay in the big leagues will likely only last one day, the Giants determined pitching depth took priority over Belt’s presence and stayed true to their word as Johnson

logged two scoreless frames in relief.

The reason the Giants had a hole on their roster in the first place was the result of an injury suffered Thursday, as third baseman Evan Longoria left the contest 12 innings before its conclusion after an 89-mile per hour fastball fractured his pinky.

With Posey, Belt and Longoria all out of commission, the Giants lineup failed to pack a punch through its first six innings against Stripling.

It took a two-run, opposite-field home run from Sandoval in the top of the seventh to inject life back into the Giants dugout, as the offensive hero from Thursday’s 16th inning picked up two more RBIs on Friday.

“You have to do whatever you can do to be rested and play,” Sandoval said. “Especially the situation we have. We lost Longo, we don’t have too many guys on the bench, so whatever you have to do, you have to do it to play.”

Outfielder Matt Kemp looked spry and hungry Friday, as the 33-year-old Braves castoff feasted on a fourth inning offering from Giants starter Derek Holland that he sent over the center field fence for his 11th home run of the year.

“He got it and he muscled it out there and that’s part of it,” Holland said. “He’s definitely one of the hottest hitters in the game right now too so you’ve got to tip your hat to him.”

Kemp’s solo shot added to the 1-0 Dodgers advantage that shortstop Kiké Hernández supplied with a first inning homer over the left field wall. Los Angeles built on the 2-0 lead too, as Yasiel Puig drove in Yasmani Grandal with a fourth inning double after Grandal reached on Jackson’s error.

“He catches that ball 99 out of 100 times,” Bochy said.

The error wound up haunting the Giants, as the unearned run proved to be the difference in Friday’s outcome.