SAN FRANCISCO — Beelining toward their third straight .500 or worse season, the Giants notched four hits in a loss to the postseason-contending Diamondbacks.
Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen no-hit the Giants for the duration of his six-inning start, consistently getting into two-strike counts and generating whiffs on offspeed pitches out of the zone from there.
LaMonte Wade Jr. hit his sixth career Splash Hit — and the franchise’s 104th overall — once Gallen departed, but his seventh-inning shot didn’t ignite a serious comeback bid in the 6-4 defeat.
“All our best at-bats come later in the game off, a lot of times, the best relievers,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said postgame. “It happens again today. It’s trying to put pressure on the starter early in the game, score some runs — it takes the pressure off our starters. We talk about it a lot. We try to prepare the best we can for a starter, and it’s really been all year that we’ve struggled with that.”
San Francisco (68-72) has now lost six of its last seven games as the club’s focus has turned from an outside shot at a playoff run to next season. They’ve officially lost four straight series. The 22,855 of announced paid attendance set a new season-low at Oracle Park, breaking the prior low point from the night before.
Giants starter Hayden Birdsong has impressed at times this season, but there have been more downs than ups. Before Wednesday night’s rocky outing, his season ERA in nine starts against teams other than the Rockies was 6.15.
Birdgong’s past month in particular, specifically with his control, has been difficult.
“Honestly, I don’t really know,” Birdsong, 23, said of his command. “I’m still working on it obviously. I’d love to be in the zone all the time, but sometimes that’s how it goes. Hopefully I can figure it out for my next start. Just keep working on it, hopefully it comes back. Just keep grinding.”
Birdsong labored through three innings and was lucky to cough up only two runs. The rookie righty walked five, gave up a home run to Eugenio Suarez in the second and made a throwing error while delivering 77 pitches.
To end the second frame, Josh Bell just missed what would’ve been a grand slam, instead flying out to the warning track in the left-field corner. Still, Birdsong forced the Giants to hand the game over to the bullpen earlier than they would’ve liked.
“I hate killing the bullpen. It hurts my feelings, and it screws us later in the series or whatnot. I just want to get to five, get to six, regardless of if I give up three or four runs or whatever. If I can keep it there, five or six innings, it’d feel okay.”
The Giants similarly couldn’t cash in on a bases-loaded situation when a trio of rookies — Luis Matos, Marco Luciano and Brett Wisely — drew consecutive two-out walks. That threat ended when backup catcher Curt Casali committed on his check swing on a Gallen curveball in the dirt.
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As Birdsong exited and Spencer Bivens (4IP, 2ER, 3K, 1BB) pitched well in his place, Gallen continued to cruise through the Giants’ order. The second-inning trio of walks were three of the only four baserunners he put on all night.
Gallen struck out the side of Tyler Fitzgerald, Wade and Luis Matos in the fourth inning, extending his no-hit bid.
San Francisco’s lineup was littered with rookies and second-year players — as it should be in a September bereft of a postseason chance. Matt Chapman, who has played all but four games this year, was a late scratch. That allowed Fitzgerald and Wisely to occupy the left side of the infield, with Luciano starting his second straight game at second base. Ramos and Matos joined veteran Mike Yastrzemski in the outfield.
Bivens, another rookie, retired the first five Diamondbacks he faced before leaving a changeup over the middle to Pavin Smith, who socked it for a solo home run.
The Giants rarely even hit the ball out of the infield against Gallen, who took the mound for the sixth with a 3-0 lead. Yastrzemski then worked a 13-pitch walk, driving Gallen closer to a departure. But Ramos grounded into a double play on the first pitch he saw and then Michael Conforto struck out, allowing Gallen to leave with his no-hitter intact.
“He’s always good, right?” Melvin said of Gallen. “Curveball always looks like a strike and ends up being below the zone. Makes big pitches when he has to.”
Fitzgerald singled up the middle off Kevin Ginkel to lead off the seventh for San Francisco’s first hit of the evening and the very next batter, Wade, crushed a Splash Hit to halve Arizona’s lead.
Wade’s sixth home run of the year landed in the drink 412 feet from home plate.
But the same issues that have plagued embattled former closer Camilo Doval resurfaced in the eighth. Doval allowed a leadoff walk, didn’t hold the runner on, and then Suarez came centimeters away from his second homer of the game, settling for a double. Both eventually scored.
Wade drove in two more runs in the bottom of the ninth with a single up the middle, accounting for all four of San Francisco’s RBI. But the next three batters after him failed to reach base, leaving a half-full Oracle Park with a loss for the second straight night.
