What we learned as Cobb's misfortunes continue in loss to Mets

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants followed their sloppiest game of the season with another absolute dud.

A bad fielding mistake in left field opened the floodgates in the third inning and the New York Mets kept pouring it on, winning 13-3. The loss was the fifth straight for the Giants, who now have two five-game losing streaks in May. They didn't lose more than four in a row all of last season.

A day after getting blown out 10-1 to the San Diego Padres, the Giants allowed 18 hits and played more bad defense. Still, they were down by just four in the bottom of the seventh when Gabe Kapler took his shot, sending up three left-handed pinch-hitters against rookie right-hander Colin Holderman. It didn't lead to any runs, and the Mets got back-to-back homers from Jeff McNeil and Mark Canha in the eighth. 

The Unluckiest Pitcher Alive

Alex Cobb entered the night with an expected ERA of 1.83 and an actual ERA of 5.61. He has been the unluckiest starting pitcher in baseball so far, mostly because the quality of contact he's allowing does not at all match up to the number of base hits opponents are getting. That continued in a five-run third. 

Cobb thought he was out of the inning when Brandon Nimmo chopped one to short, but Nimmo beat out Brandon Crawford's throw, reaching on a ball that had a hit probability of 16 percent. Starling Marte followed with a slow roller down the third base line that had a hit probability of 20 percent, but Cobb couldn't get a throw off and the bases were loaded. 

Still, Cobb seemed out of the jam. Francisco Lindor hit a high pop-up to left with a hit probability of one (!) percent, but Darin Ruf overran it and it dropped just inside the line for a two-run double. Cobb hung a curve to Pete Alonso on the very next pitch and his 11th homer of the year made it 5-0.

Dead Center

Crawford entered the night with a .627 OPS, which would be the lowest of his career in a full season, so any kind of solid contact would have been a step in the right direction. But it certainly stood out a bit more when he took a 95 mph fastball from a lefty to dead center for a two-run shot in the second inning. 

The blast was 105.6 mph off the bat and landed 418 feet away. It was Crawford's second-hardest batted ball of the season and his top distance. The homer was his fourth of the year and scored Evan Longoria, who also has been slumping but opened the inning with a hard double to left. 

Not What You Want

For the third time in nine days, Luis González ended up on the mound. He took over in the top of the ninth to save the bullpen again, becoming the first Giants position player in recorded history -- back to 1906 -- to pitch in back to back games. 

Gonzalez entered the night with 3 1/3 scoreless innings under his belt and quickly got Lindor and Alonso to ground out, but his luck turned after that. Jeff McNeil waited out his mid 40s lollipops and walked, and the rest of the Mets seemed to catch on. They scored three runs off Gonzalez, who threw 19 pitches a day after throwing 16. 

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