PHOENIX — Word started to spread around the Diamondbacks clubhouse here at the outset of this series. Something Gabe Kapler apparently said: bulletin board material. Even though no such words escaped the lips of the Giants manager.
The fake quote attributed to Kapler went something like, “We’re going to get right in Arizona.”
It’s about the opposite of the ethos Kapler is obsessive about presenting to the public, of valuing each game and each opponent equally. But, hey, whatever works.
This much is certain: there was no getting right, correcting course or anything of the sort done the past three days in the desert. After seven games on the road to begin the second half, the Giants return home Thursday still seeking their first win since the All-Star break.
A 5-3 defeat to the Diamondbacks on Wednesday sealed their seventh straight loss and ended an 0-7 trip through two division-rival cities. It was so bad, it made history: since moving to San Francisco, the Giants had gone winless on a seven-game road swing only twice before — and not since 1985, when the club lost 100 games.
“I just think we need to come out with a little more fire right now,” Kapler said. “Guys are pressing. They’re wanting to do too much. Sometimes that just creates a little tightness in their play.”
It seemed impossible that the Giants could find a new low, after losing six straight amid a 4-14 stretch at the end of June. But they have managed to do just that less than a month later with seven straight losses out of the All-Star break, falling two games under .500, and Wednesday’s finale was decided in fitting fashion: with some ‘ole fashioned Giants defense.
It took a combination of two bunts and a single for the Diamondbacks to score two runs that broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the seventh. After Jake McCarthy beat out a bunt single, he advanced to third on a single up the middle from Sergio Alcantara — and Alcantara took second when Austin Slater made a misguided attempt at throwing out McCarthy, one of the fastest players in the game, at third. McCarthy broke for home when the next batter, Jose Herrera, squared up to bunt, and the squeeze play brought home both runners when Brandon Belt’s throw sailed over the glove of catcher Austin Wynns.
“It was a stupid play,” Belt said of his decision to throw home when it was clear McCarthy had him beat. “I didn’t have a chance so I should’ve gotten the guy at first. Then I end up losing the grip on the ball. … It’s one of those things where some stuff hasn’t been going our way and we haven’t been in a lot of ballgames, haven’t been scoring a lot of runs. I tried to make something happen right there. Usually when you do that, that’s a good way to screw something up.”
For good measure, Josh Rojas slugged a home run into the pool area in right field to cap the three-run inning.
Logan Webb made it through six innings while limiting Arizona to two runs — both scored by Ketel Marte, another star player showing the Giants what they don’t have — but left with one out in the seventh after being credited with four earned runs, thanks to the pair of bunts aided by San Francisco’s defense.
The four runs were more than Webb had allowed in a start since June 4 and followed Carlos Rodón’s second-straight five-run outing. Badly in need of a stopper, neither Giants ace was able to break the skid.
Was the way his final inning transpired frustrating for a starter who flashed the same stuff that had resulted in the majors’ second-best ERA since June 14 (1.38)?
“Losing is frustrating,” Webb said. “It was an awesome inning by them. … They did all the little things right. They made the right plays, the right hits, put it in all the right spots. It’s just a (crappy) feeling.”
It was Rojas, the seventh-inning home run hitter, who first mentioned Kapler’s quote as a motivating factor this series.
Asked about the mixup, miscommunication, misinformation or maybe just simple gamesmanship following Tuesday’s loss, Kapler said, “If I did say something like that, somehow, some way in passing, that’s pretty much the opposite sentiment that I’ve shared with all our local guys every single time out. … It’s so silly and so not applicable and so out of character that it’s not even a blip on my radar.”
Before Wednesday’s game, something Kapler did say was that he hoped Tommy La Stella could be a “catalyst” at the top of the Giants order in his first game back from a three-week stay on the COVID list. Leading off and playing third base, whatever impact was not immediately felt: La Stella went hitless in five at-bats (striking out to end the game), and the Giants were limited to three runs on seven hits — the third time in three games this series they failed to score more than three runs.
In the seven games on this trip, the Giants averaged 2.7 runs per game and were outscored 44-19.
“As a pitcher, I know I was out there trying to strike out everybody because I didn’t want to give up a run and I don’t want to lose,” Webb said. “I know that you can ask any hitter in there, they want to come up and hit a home run so we can score a run. All those things that we are trying to do because we haven’t won in seven days. Unfortunately, they’re not very close games, most of them. It sucks.”
For a brief moment in the top of the fourth, the Giants took a 2-1 lead after Wilmer Flores doubled and was driven home by Thairo Estrada. Luis González, who walked and advanced to third on Estrada’s single, scored when Estrada broke for second and the throw from the catcher Herrera fell to the dirt. But the D-backs answered in the bottom half, with doubles from Marte and David Peralta to tie the game at 2.
In 63 innings of baseball this trip, the Giants held three leads. Each time, they coughed them up in the bottom half of the same inning.
“Everything has gone wrong (and) everything needs to change,” Belt said. “I don’t think there’s any part of our game that’s solid right now. … I’d say we need to change the attitude a little bit but winning will do that for you. We know how to win and we can do it, but we’ve got to go out there and make it happen.”
Notable
- Shortstop Brandon Crawford could head out on a rehab assignment before he is activated from the injured list, Kapler said. Crawford, who has been out since July 15 with inflammation in his left knee stemming from an awkward slide into home plate last month, is “feeling much better” but “still feeling the knee a little bit,” Kapler said. “We’re trying to get that completely knocked out. I’m hoping that we’re able to do that and we’re not going to be in a situation where we activate him and he’s not quite ready.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com