Cody Glenn-USA TODAY Sports
The bats the Giants held over their shoulders may as well have had white flags attached.
A team that has spoken of catching fire, of giving Farhan Zaidi second-thoughts about a trade-deadline selloff, of once again playing relevant games, showed no pulse.
The only unfamiliar facet of Thursday’s game was a key bullpen piece being tattooed, Trevor Gott giving up the home run that provided the cushion. But the loss itself was familiar, 5-1 to the Diamondbacks at Oracle Park in front of 30,790, their fourth in five games, which pushes them to 34-46, tying a season-worst 12 games under .500.
The offense, again, was the biggest culprit, managing just three hits, and all five Giants base-runners were left stranded. The 3-4-5-6 hitters – Tyler Austin (replaced by Alex Dickerson), Buster Posey, Evan Longoria and Kevin Pillar – combined to go 0-for-14. They haven’t scored more than four runs in five games, their league-worst offense making a debuting rookie named Alex Young, who had a 6.09 ERA for Triple-A Reno in the PCL, look like a star.
“Energy comes from base hits and key base hits and things like that,” Bruce Bochy said after the loss. “When you don’t hit, you always look flat. They were trying, trust me.”
Young danced through five innings, surrendering three hits and a walk and allowing a run with five strikeouts. Once the Giants began to show a faint hope of life, putting two runners on in the fifth, the Arizona bullpen put them back to sleep. With Donovan Solano and Brandon Belt on first and second without an out, Yoshihisa Hirano entered and got a pinch-hitting Dickerson, Posey and Longoria to go down quietly.
The Giants bats were not to be heard from again, a Dickerson walk in the ninth their only base-runner after the fifth.
For those pulling out a microscope in search of a bright spot, Tyler Beede again flashed potential, yet again flashed command issues that would cost him. In 5 1/3 innings, the 26-year-old rookie gave up two runs on four hits and three walks. But he was most burned on a couple pitches that strayed, including a fifth-inning, 94-mph fastball to Nick Ahmed that was intended for the outside corner yet trailed over the plate. Ahmed pulled it over the left-field wall.
The solo shot broke a 1-1 tie, and Carson Kelly launching a Gott fastball 416 feet to dead center with a runner on in the seventh quashed any possible drama.
Their only run came on a Belt home run in the fourth, a sign that perhaps Belt is coming out of his slump. The rest of the Giants offense provided no such hope.