Defense remains a disaster, Giants bats wake up too late in loss to the Astros

In his first three starts this season, rookie Logan Webb served as the Giants’ stopper, leading the club to three muchneeded wins that followed tough losses.

In his fourth outing of the summer, Webb learned that he can’t carry the team by himself. Not when the defense behind him won’t do its part stopping anything.

The worst defense in the major leagues had one of its worst innings of the year with Webb on the mound in Houston on Thursday, committing two errors, whiffing on a relatively routine grounder that was ruled a single and failing to quickly turn a potential double play.

A four-run bottom of the third doomed Webb and the Giants at Minutemaid Park against the Astros as San Francisco fell four games under .500 following a 6-4 defeat.

For the second consecutive day, the Giants’ lineup was an early no-show as the team had three errors by the time the offense recorded its first hit against

Astros starter Lance Mccullers,

Jr. in the top of the seventh inning.

Right fielder Austin Slater prevented the Giants from being shut out with a solo home run in the eighth –his third homer of the road trip– before San Francisco’s lineup made things slightly uncomfortable for the Astros and manager Dusty Baker with four hits and a walk in the ninth.

Donovan Solano’s second double of the night and a two-run single from Brandon Crawford helped the Giants bring the goahead run to the plate against Ryan Pressly, but pinch-hitter Evan Longoria flew out to center field on the first pitch he saw to seal the defeat.

Sloppy defense has been a calling card of the 2020 Giants as they entered Monday’s series opener in Houston with a major league-worst 18 errors. That number doesn’t account for several plays similar to the Solano failed to make in the third inning when he tried to range into the hole between third base and shortstop to stop a Jose Altuve groundball that rolled into left field.