Many of the Giants’ early-season warts again surfaced on Friday night against the Mets.
For the third time, San Francisco’s streaky offense got shut out.
The league’s most strikeout-prone team so far fanned 12 times — its 12th double-digit strikeout game of the year.
The Giants mustered four hits against two left-handed pitchers; SF entered with the 29th-ranked OPS against southpaws as its lineup without Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater is unequipped to handle lefties.
The Giants’ 7-0 loss to New York sank them to 6-13 on the season. It matches the franchise’s worst start since 2017, when SF lost 98 games.
When asked if he’s concerned about his club falling too far below .500, manager Gabe Kapler cautioned against overreacting too early in the season.
“No, not from a record standpoint,” Kapler said. “I definitely expect us to play better baseball going forward. That’s not negotiable. We have to do that to be competitive in our division. But no, I’m not concerned about where we are today, on (April 21).”
Before Friday’s loss, Kapler identified several areas that need to improve in order for the Giants to turn things around. He listed getting healthy, putting more balls in play and reducing damage as a pitching staff.
Then San Francisco didn’t do much of any of that.
Friday’s starter, Anthony DeSclafani, limited the Mets to one run through four innings, but then allowed three in the fifth. An unlucky play that allowed Jeff McNeil to reach base on a swinging bunt extended the inning one pitch before Pete Alonso took DeSclafani deep.
DeSclafani, a nine-year veteran, agreed with Kapler that it’s too early to panic but admitted that the early struggles are taking a toll.
“It’s probably, more than anything, starting to wear on us a little bit,” DeSclafani said. “It’d be nice to be playing a little bit better baseball and stringing some wins together. But Kap’s right: it’s April 21, for sure. But yeah, it’d be nice — at some point, we need to obviously get going. But there’s a lot of baseball left. And there’s no reason to dwell on anything just yet.”
The Giants have lost series to the Royals, Tigers and Marlins — in addition to series losses to the Yankees. With the loss Friday, the best they could do this weekend against the Mets is a sweep.
San Francisco’s -18 run differential is fourth in the National League West, ahead of only Colorado.
“Just pretty much everything,” DeSclafani said when asked about what needs to change. “Everything kind of needs to click at once. Nothing’s clicking at once. Go back to 21, it felt like everything was clicking all year. I guess — didn’t take it for granted, but you forget it’s not easy for that to happen all the time. At some point, we’re all going to click and get on the same page and vibe, and we’ll be good.”
DeSclafani’s message echoed that of Sean Manaea’s, the veteran who took the loss on Thursday.
“It’s not like anybody’s not trying,” Manaea said Thursday. “I think we’re there. I think we’ve just got to be firing on all cylinders. Some guys definitely are, some guys aren’t — i.e. me. Once we all figure that out and start vibing together, good things will come.”
Before the season, Kapler said he viewed this roster as the most talented he’s had as manager of the Giants. With free agent acquisitions Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto boosting the lineup, plus Manaea, Ross Stripling and Taylor Rogers joining a deep pitching staff, the Giants looked strong on paper.
There’s still faith in the players in the clubhouse.
“Keep pushing,” veteran infielder Wilmer Flores said Friday. “Things are going to happen, but it’ll pass. We’ll get out of it. We have the guys here to do it. We’re always one swing away or one pitch away. We’ve got a lot of time…We’ve been on a losing streak. Knowing the team we have, we can get on a winning streak quick. Things will turn.”
