Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
PHILADELPHIA – The trade deadline finished without the fire sale many expected. Farhan Zaidi, while moving some bullpen pieces, sent the message that he believes in this team.
The Giants’ series winning streak is finished, too, and their winning July is gone. How much of the magic is still intact?
The Giants never really had a chance Thursday against the Phillies, dropping a 10-2 matinee at Citizens Bank Park in front of 28,524 that was all but over in the third inning. They went all of July without losing a series. Aug. 1 brought them their first three-game defeat since June 26 against Colorado, when they were 34-45, and an Aug. 1 that still had Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith in the orange and black seemed impossible.
In the wake of their season-changing run, they’re 3-4 over the past week. They’re still 2 ½ games back of the second NL wild card, but they are losing touch with how they built belief.
A starting rotation that has had a trio of rookies has finally looked like it features a trio of rookies. Tyler Beede has struggled in two starts, Shaun Anderson for a month and Dereck Rodriguez, in a spot-start, got beaten up Thursday.
A lineup that had caught fire in July has flamed out without Evan Longoria, still working his way back, and Alex Dickerson, finally placed on the injured list before the game. Zaidi’s help, in the form of Scooter Gennett, is expected to join the Giants on Friday in Colorado. Injecting energy into a lineup that is again looking lifeless will be a challenge.
Rodriguez was ineffective – though, so was the defense behind him. He allowed seven runs (four earned) in three innings on eight hits and two walks.
There was a Jake Arrieta one-hop shot to Brandon Crawford, who couldn’t field it cleanly to score a run. There was a pop-foul that Brandon Belt couldn’t see. And there was a deluge of hard hits; even several Phillies outs were made at the wall.
Cesar Hernandez’s two-run double in the second started the real damage. Four consecutive Philadelphia hits in the third made it 5-0 Phillies.
Hernandez crushed a 91-mph fastball to right to start the fourth, pushing the lead to 6-0. After Rodriguez walked Jean Segura, Andrew Suarez was brought in, and the game became an exhibition for what the underbelly of the bullpen will look like without Mark Melancon and Drew Pomeranz.
It wasn’t pretty. Andrew Suarez gave up a pair of runs, while allowing an inherited one, too, in a difficult fourth. A three-run blast from J.T. Realmuto was the crusher for the team and Kevin Pillar. Pillar, on a sprint, leapt at the center-field wall and came down with no ball, glove or comfort. He crumpled to the warning track in pain, having his lost glove over the wall and the homer out of reach. He remained in the game after the Giants training staff looked him over.
After Suarez came Sam Selman, the 28-year-old making his major league debut after seven seasons in Kansas City’s organization. He showed a slider with serious movement that helped him strike out Maikel Franco, the first batter he saw. The next, though, would be Roman Quinn, who launched a slider 379 feet over the right-field wall. Selman escaped without further damage while walking one.
Jandel Gustave, a 26-year-old who’s spent the season in the minors, made his Giants debut next. Bryce Harper nearly gave his a rude welcome, flying out to deep center, and the former Astro let up just one single and a walk in two quick innings.
Sam Coonrod finished off the loss for Giants team that finished with 10 hits, though most accumulated in garbage time. They went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and now go on to Colorado with an offense that is desperate for Coors Field.
