Signs of life after team meeting, even in 7th straight loss
MIAMI — Managers and players rarely betray the sanctity of a team meeting by spilling the precise words that were spoken. But deducing them is not hard. Just listen to the message in the postgame comments.
On one level, the 20-minute meeting that manager Bruce Bochy called before Wednesday night’s game did not succeed because the Giants lost to the Marlins 4-2 and extended their losing streak to seven games, their worst since last year’s 11-gamer.
One message seemed to take, however.
Bochy had been upset with a lack of concentration and smart baseball, and what he perceived as tight play during the previous four games, which the Giants lost by scores of 18-2, 10-4, 6-2 and 11-3.
That changed before another minuscule crowd at Marlins Park (6,487). The Giants played a good ballgame. They just did not hit, a problem they will not solve with 100 meetings.
“When you come out on the losing side, it’s tough to swallow,” losing pitcher Madison Bumgarner said. “But if we keep going how we are, we’ll start rising.”
Bochy, who conveyed a desire for more aggressive baseball during his meeting, said of Wednesday’s effort, “You like the way the guys were getting after it. I was good with the game. Obviously you’d like more offense, but we played a good game. It was more our type of game.”
“Our type of game” is a euphemism for “Can’t slug it, so we have to pitch like mad and hope for a timely hit or two.”
The Giants went down on six hits. Brandon Belt had the RBIs, on a homer in the fourth inning against Marlins starter Pablo Lopez and an infield out in the ninth as the Giants rallied against Sergio Romo, who nonetheless struck out Steven Duggar to complete his first career save against his first love. The game hinged on what
prima facie seemed like an odd decision. Bochy pulled Bumgarner after 81 pitches following Jorge Alfaro’s leadoff single in the seventh inning.
Mark Melancon got the first out on batter interference, but left-handed pinch-hitters Curtis Granderson and Neil Walker went single-double to get the go-ahead run home. Garrett Cooper added a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.
Bochy said Bumgarner seemed “gassed” from the third inning on and they spoke before the Big Fella took the mound for the seventh, agreeing he would come out if a runner reached.
“It happens occasionally, not often, but sometimes you have to take care of your starter and I did,” Bochy said. “I know him. I could tell he was feeling it, and sure enough he was.”
Bumgarner could not explain it. He denied it had anything to do with the warm, humid weather, saying, “It wasn’t really that hot.”
“It was just one of those days,” he said. “Our bullpen is a good one. I think we both felt like (taking me out) would be the best thing. I backed him up on that. Certain times through the year you feel really good. Sometimes you don’t. I could feel it warming up.”
The Marlins added a fourth run in the eighth against Sam Dyson when Duggar attempted a do-or-die dive on a Starlin Castro drive. It got by Duggar for a triple — Miami’s first of the year — and Harold Ramirez singled him home.
Duggar might have taken Bochy’s message about “getting after it” a bit too literally. Bochy suggested that might have been a time to play it safe and get behind the ball.
Duggar landed hard on his surgically repaired left shoulder and said when he landed, “It didn’t feel great. Now I feel fine. I feel normal.”
The new normal for the Giants is a lot of losing. They reached the one-third point of the season at 21-33, 11⁄2 games ahead of the Marlins for the worst record in the National League. Tyler Beede gets the ball Thursday, hoping to help the Giants avoid an embarrassing sweep. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle. com Twitter: @hankschulman