Giants end June on losing note despite Wade Jr.'s return
SF goes 13-13 over month, with half of the losses coming by one run
SAN FRANCISCO >> Lamonte Wade Jr.'s return to the lineup Wednesday set the Giants up to close the month of June on a high note, but instead it ended in a loss for the seventh time in their past 10 games.
Even with Wade back at the top of their lineup, the Giants weren't able to muster enough offense in a 3-2 loss to the Tigers, splitting this two-game interleague series and ending the month of June at 13-13. Of their 14 losses this month, Wednesday's was the seventh that came by just one run.
Evan Longoria gave the Giants his third homer in five games — his eighth of the season, raising his OPS to .847, second on the team only to Joc Pederson — with a solo shot in the first inning, but the Giants managed only one more run the rest of the way while leaving the bases loaded twice.
The most damage the Tigers did off Giants starter Alex Wood came on his final pitch, but otherwise the lefthander pitched well enough to prove his disastrous last start was but a blip.
Wood's month of June was one of highs and lows, featuring his two best starts of the season (7 IP, 1 ER vs. COL; 6 IP, 2 ER vs. KC) but also possibly the worst effort of his career coming in his last outing at Atlanta (1+ IP, 6 ER). Overall, Giants' starters 3.37 ERA throughout June entering Wednesday was the sixth-best mark in MLB, their best month of the season.
On Wednesday, Wood struck out six over 5 2/3 innings, including a stretch of four straight between the second and the third, and was one batter away from making it through six innings for only the third time this season. With his pitch count past 90, manager Gabe Kapler trotted to the mound but quickly turned around and gave Wood a chance to finish the inning.
Two pitches later, Kapler was back on his way to the mound, after catcher Eric Haase put an 0-1 slider into the left-field bleachers to give Detroit a 3-1 advantage.
With an off-day Thursday — their final one before the All-star break — the loss secured the Giants' second straight month without a winning record.
They finished June 1414, after going 13-14 in May. Since going 14-7 in April, the Giants have played below .500 baseball.
The Giants have seemingly been on the mend all season, but as June comes to an end, it's as true as ever, with Wade slotted into the lineup Wednesday for the first time since May 18.
Wade went 1-for-5 with a bloop base hit into left field that extended a seventh-inning rally, but he also misplayed a ball in right field that allowed Javier Baez to make it to third — and eventually score Detroit's first run — to lead off the fourth inning.
The Giants' oft-injured duo of Wade and Brandon Belt appeared together in the starting lineup for only the seventh time this season. The pair played big part in the 48 home runs and .969 OPS the Giants got from first base last season, but they have combined for only six home runs and a .730 OPS entering Wednesday's game.
Including Longoria, who also missed the first month of the season but is heating up of late (12-for-30 with three HRS over his nine-game on-base streak), Wednesday marked just the fifth time all season the trio made up one-third of the Giants' starting nine.
Even Kapler noted before the game, “It feels sort of like what a midseason lineup might look like, obviously minus Craw.”
But on Wednesday, all that lineup could muster was two runs.
• Right-hander Jakob Junis took a step toward returning to the rotation Tuesday with his first bullpen session since straining his hamstring in a start almost three weeks ago. Junis threw 20 pitches at 75-80% and hopes to throw two or three more before moving on to live batting practice. His next one is scheduled for Friday, which could set him up to begin a rehab assignment sometime around mid-july.