The Giants’ white and cream City Connect jerseys clashed with their patriotic-inspired red hats, and their performance was also far from pretty.
None of the Giants’ three bulk arms impressed, with starter Keaton Winn, Sean Manaea and Jakob Junis covering the game’s innings. The bottom half of San Francisco’s lineup struggled mightily, and Mariners first baseman Mike Ford made his presence known with a 4-for-5 game.
The Giants launched all their fireworks after Monday night’s game, as their offense got shut out for the eighth time this season. They had no answer for Seattle’s Logan Gilbert, who spun his first career complete game shutout.
With the 6-0 loss, the Giants (46-40) remain winless in July after going 18-8 in the month of June. They’re battered with injuries on both the position player and pitching side, making next week’s All-Star break a pivotal time to recharge.
“We can’t just be looking ahead,” J.D. Davis said postgame. “We can’t just tread lightly and take these games for granted. We’ve got to end on a good note and make the best out of these last (four games).”
In Winn’s first MLB start, he lasted six innings in Toronto. While he got hit hard at times, the rookie worked efficiently and maneuvered through a talented Blue Jays lineup.
With another quality start, Winn could have had the inside track on a rotation spot. He’s in the muddled class of starter-caliber pitchers who have pitched in San Francisco’s bullpen, a group that includes Sean Manaea, Alex Wood, Ross Stripling, Tristan Beck and others.
Instead of fast-tracking his way into the Giants’ rotation, Winn struggled in his second chance. He allowed a run and multiple base runners in three of his four innings. His split-fingered fastball, the righty’s best pitch, stayed in the zone too frequently instead of falling below it.
Mike Ford, who played one game in a Giants uniform as part of last year’s neverending roster churn, homered off Winn in the third inning as part of a huge day. He went 2-for-3 with a walk in the series opener before racking up the homer, two doubles and a single on Independence Day.
Winn’s results could have been worse, had Patrick Bailey not caught his 12th runner stealing in the first inning and if Seattle took advantage of what was nearly a disastrous rundown in the second.
Sean Manaea took over for Winn after the starter delivered 67 pitches, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk. Manaea fared slightly better, giving up one run on four hits in two frames.
A day after Bryan Woo muted a possibly fatigued Giants lineup, Gilbert worked masterfully. Davis attributed the 6-foot-6 Gilbert’s success to his extension, which ranks in the 99th percentile in MLB and makes his pitches jump on hitters quicker than they are.
Davis notched two hits and Mike Yastrzemski hit a double, but Gilbert needed just 79 pitches to toss six scoreless innings.
The Giants’ lineup is averaging 3.08 runs in their past 12 games.
“We were on a roll, and then as you’ve seen over this past week, eight days, it’s been kind of hit-or-miss,” Davis said. “It’s bound to happen. The season is a see-saw. But we’re still confident in each other.”
In the seventh inning, Gilbert sat down Patrick Bailey, Blake Sabol and Brandon Crawford in 10 pitches. That was more of the same for that group; the bottom half of SF’s order failed to produce at all.
That trio, plus nine-hitter Casey Schmitt, went 0-for-15 and didn’t reach base once.
Sabol, who had two home runs Monday, and Patrick Bailey have been tremendous offensively. But Crawford is hitting .215 on the year and Schmitt is 8-for-66 (.121) since June. And Gilbert kept pumping, all through the ninth in which he recorded his sixth and seventh strikeouts.
Heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Oracle Park speakers played Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” Maybe it was for Gilbert and the Mariners.
