Giants 7-1 loss to Cards is SF’S 5th in 6 games
The glow of a 107-win season last year hid a few dings here and there. Believe it or not, the San Francisco Giants had a few tough stretches, including dropping five of six games at the end of August.
Few remember that now, and the Giants hope their current li’l lull is similarly glossed over. After dropping Thursday’s opener against St. Louis 7-1, San Francisco has, once again, lost five of six — including four in a row, matching the team’s longest losing streak last year.
“We do remember that,” manager Gabe Kapler said of some of last season’s funks. “We had stretches of poor performance from some of our better players at times and we just don’t get caught up in that. Even though this is a little bit more prolonged, it’s a week of not great performance. We understand that it’s a long season. We are a resilient group.
“We understand that right around the corner here is some good play and we’ll get some reinforcements here soon.”
The offense is stalling: Three runs in three games. Against the Cardinals, the Giants had men on base with 10 hits and four walks, but only one of the hits, Mike Yastrzemski’s single in the fifth, came with men in scoring position. With runners at the corners, Joc Pederson followed by drilling a drive to dead center, but Harrison Bader caught it at the base of the wall.
That’s something of a norm recently: blasts that would usually go out are coming up short.
“We’ve definitely seen some balls hit hard that seemed like they would usually be homers and they aren’t getting out,” shortstop Brandon Crawford said. “I think the toughest part is that they’re not just not homers — they’re also outs a lot of the time. They’re not going off the wall or in the gap
or anything, so it definitely seems like something's different. ... It definitely seems like the balls aren't traveling as far.”
San Francisco was 1-for5 with men in scoring position Thursday and is 3-for20 in the past three games.
The Giants have been adamant that they won't use their many IL'D regulars as an excuse, but they've been without third baseman Evan Longoria (finger), second baseman Tommy La Stella (Achilles) and outfielder Lamonte Wade Jr. (knee) all season and first baseman Brandon Belt is on the COVID-IL. Wade is likely to return Friday; Belt is essentially day-to-day as he awaits consecutive negative tests.
“I think last year we had stretches where we were missing guys in our lineup also, but we kind of would ride it out, find ways to win and put up runs,” Crawford said. “And we're just not doing that right now.”
Said Kapler: “We have to hang in there through a rough stretch of some bad luck but also not our best baseball, and trust that over the course of a long season, our true talent will emerge and our grit and tenacity will come out.”
Yastrzemski returned from the COVID list Wednesday after missing seven games; he had two hits and a walk Thursday.
Arms a-plenty: Thursday was another bullpen game, with Mauricio Llovera getting the start and working a scoreless first; eight more relievers followed him.
Zack Littell, just off the COVID list, got the next two innings and gave up a leadoff homer to Yadier Molina in the third, Molina's first homer of the season, and just the second of his 19-year career at Oracle Park. It was the first run Littell has allowed in eight innings this season, and he took the loss, ending a 10-game winning streak that dated back to his rookie year.
Littell, who is vaccinated and boosted, said he had some significant body aches after testing positive, but he was able to keep his arm in shape while in quarantine, throwing a ball down a sleeve attached to his arm.
Cardinals second baseman Tommy Edman, who played at Stanford, delivered a two-run single in the fifth off José Álvarez and added another RBI single in the seventh off Jake Mcgee. Tyler Rogers allowed an RBI single by Juan Yepez.
San Francisco's bullpen has had to cover numerous starts with Alex Cobb missing two starts and Anthony Desclafani on the IL. It's been tough sledding lately, especially with Littell and Dominic Leone on the COVID list. Leone is expected back in the next day or two.
Over the past six games, Giants relievers have allowed 28 earned runs in 29 innings, an 8.69 ERA.
“It's a tough stretch,” Littell said. “Teams are going to go through this, look back at last year. Ideally, you don't want to go through this at all, but it's a lot better than going through something like this in August, September. This team is built with plenty of depth to deal with stuff like this.”
Glovework: After a recent run of sloppy defense, the Giants played a strong game in the field, with the most notable plays coming back-to-back in the fourth. With Tyler O'neill at second after a double, Crawford made a sensational leap up the middle to knock down a sizzling liner by Yepez, saving a run, and third baseman Jason Vosler followed that up by going to his knees to stab a shot by Bader to start an inningending double play.