PHOENIX — The Giants briefly moved into a tie for first in the NL West two and a half weeks ago. At the moment, their biggest concern is trying to avoid a drop to fourth place.
Another night of offensive ineptitude was matched by poor pitching and sloppy defense, leading to an 8-2 loss, the seventh in eight games. The Giants are now just four games above .500 and only 1 1/2 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Any longshot hopes of contending for the NL West title are gone; they’re 8 1/2 back of the Los Angeles Dodgers all of a sudden.
The latest loss looked like so many others in recent weeks. Willy Adames hit an early homer and the Giants took a 2-0 lead — and then went completely silent against right-hander Zac Gallen, a longtime ace who has had a down year and entered with a 5.75 ERA.
Hayden Birdsong gave up four runs and Carson Seymour allowed four more, although both young right-handers had unearned runs on their line after Patrick Bailey passed balls.
The Giants have scored just nine runs in five games on this road trip. Over their last 41 games, they have scored four runs or fewer an astounding 30 times.
Here are the takeaways from the Giants’ fourth consecutive loss:
Roller Coaster
The first time through the order, Birdsong allowed just one baserunner and struck out five. The second time through, he put six on base and struck out none.
It was a strange outing for the young right-hander, who showed his normal velocity a week after a slight dip but also dealt with serious command issues. Birdsong threw 10 consecutive balls to open the fourth inning, and when he grooved one at the top of the zone, Jake McCarthy took a massive swing and hit a three-run homer. Birdsong didn’t come back out for the fifth.
The start was Birdsong’s eighth, and his return to the rotation hasn’t been smooth. He has allowed 21 earned runs and walked 18 in 37 1/3 innings, and he has given up at least four runs in each of his past three starts.
Second Time Out
Seymour had some bad luck in his debut in Chicago, and that carried over to his first inning out of the bullpen Tuesday. Bailey couldn’t handle a low pitch that would have been an inning-ending strikeout, and the next batter blasted a two-run homer to left. Because of the passed ball, both runs were unearned — but there was nothing flukey about the two runs in the next inning. Seymour elevated a sinker and then hung a slider, and both left the yard.
Seymour went three innings out of the bullpen and allowed four runs — two earned — on five hits. His sinker reached 97 mph, but he also gave up two homers on the pitch.
Back At The Corner
Coming into Tuesday, Wilmer Flores had played third base just twice since the Giants signed Matt Chapman. The last time came 14 months ago, and he smiled Tuesday afternoon and admitted he would be uncomfortable, but that that was fine. Flores figured he would borrow a glove from Chapman and give it his best.
The Diamondbacks have plenty of speed in their lineup, but they didn’t even try to test Flores, who hasn’t even played that much first base this season. He didn’t touch a ball until the seventh, when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a hard chopper that Flores fielded smoothly for the final out.
Flores will be the primary third baseman until Chapman returns in a week or so. Manager Bob Melvin doesn’t want to strain him too much physically, but on Tuesday, that wasn’t an issue. Mostly, he just watched fly balls soar over his head and into the seats in left.
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