Chris Mezzavilla
If the Giants finally had everything rolling entering play — an offense that has come alive, a rotation that remains among the majors’ best, an improving bullpen, a defense that has been solid all season — they timed all the stumbling blocks to surface in one game.
Their bats were quiet, their starter a mess, their first relief choice errant and the gloves an issue in a fully deserved 8-1 loss to the Angels in front of 10,546 at Oracle Park on Tuesday, perhaps showing signs of fatigue on their eighth game in eight days before an off day Wednesday.
The Giants (34-21) remained in first in the NL West, though, as the Padres fell as well and are half a game back. The Dodgers, who entered play two games back, were still playing as of publication.
The Giants split the brief two-game set with the Angels and have won six of eight before they welcome the Cubs for four games beginning Thursday.
For those looking for bright spots: Buster Posey was pulled after six innings, getting a break for his legs. Jose Alvarez, Conner Menez (in his season debut) and Dominic Leone (in his Giants debut) pitched a combined four scoreless innings. Tony Watson, in his return to San Francisco, pitched the ninth for the Angels. The rest was a dark spot.
Alex Wood finally had his first poor start of the year in his ninth outing of the season, in which his ERA ballooned by more than a run, from 2.44 to 3.48. He was not as bad as his statline — 3 2/3 innings, seven runs on four hits and four walks — suggests, but he struggled for command throughout.
The Angels, who were without both Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, tagged him for three runs in the third, in which he walked David Fletcher and Justin Upton back to back that included six consecutive balls off of his slider. The pitch has been his best all season, but he could not locate it. A wild pitch scored one run, and Anthony Rendon’s single plated two more.
Wood might have gotten out of the fourth unscathed, but a potential double-play ground ball up the middle was bobbled by Donovan Solano, who only converted one out. The Giants gave the Angels a chance to blow the game open, and they did once Wood left with the bases loaded and two outs. Matt Wisler, who has struggled for much of the season but had pitched better recently, walked in one run and then served up a bases-clearing double to Rendon, who drove in five on the day. It will be curious to see how long a leash the Giants afford Wisler, who was signed to a one-year deal this offseason and now is mostly pitching in mop-up duty.
As much attention as can be paid to the pitching struggles, they would have needed perfection to win on a day the offense was silent.
The Giants didn’t get a runner to second against Andrew Heaney until the seventh inning. They finished with five hits and only threatened in that seventh, when Solano singled in their only run.
The most concerning development from their offense, though, was a fourth-inning pinch-hit. Steven Duggar took Mike Yastrzemski’s spot after Yaz suffered a right thumb sprain trying to pull down a miraculous catch at the right-field wall — which instead went for a Max Stassi double — when he came down hard on his gloved hand. X-rays were negative.
No Ohtani. No Trout. Yastrzemski forced out. A blowout loss without much offense. Perhaps the best that be said of Tuesday’s game, from a Giants fan’s vantage point at least, is that it is over.