What we learned as Giants' offense goes missing in Brewers loss

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There would be no walk-off magic for the second straight night at Oracle Park on Thursday. 

What set up to be an electric pitching matchup between two NL All-Stars was fairly one-sided, despite both pitchers firing out of the gate. 

Carlos Rodón took the mound for the Giants and looked solid through the first two innings, but was rather inconsistent throughout his three remaining frames, leaving the game early after the fifth inning. 

Here are three observations from a frustrating extra-innings loss to the Brewers. 

Rodón's inconsistent outing

If there was one thing we could count on heading into Thursday's game, it would be plenty of strikeouts. Both Rodón and Milwaukee Brewers starter Corbin Burnes rank second and first in the National League in strikeouts respectively. 

It appeared as if the two were set for a lengthy pitchers duel before Rodón exited early after the fifth inning. He struck out five batters through the first three innings and finished with seven on the night, but the short outing certainly limited the impressive strikeout totals we could have seen from both sides. 

Rodón wasn't quite himself on Thursday night. Surrendering eight total hits and three walks, the All-Star starter consistently found himself working in and out of trouble. He ended up throwing 99 pitches through five innings, with the target total usually around 75 after five frames. 

Despite not having his best stuff, Rodón certainly brought the energy after a strikeout of Brewers shortstop Willy Adames to end the second inning. 

Corbin BURNES the Giants ... again

To say that Burnes has the Giants' number would be an understatement. After Thursday night's start (7 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 K), Burnes has allowed just three earned runs throughout 27 innings pitched while striking out 35 Giants batters. 

He cruised throughout most of the game before a Brandon Crawford single and a LaMonte Wade Jr. walk forced him out of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with the score tied 2-2. 

Of course, it shouldn't come as a surprise that San Francisco continues to struggle against the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner. Through 19 starts this season, Burnes likely will be one of the finalists for the award again at the end of the year. 

Ice-cold offense 

Chances are that two runs on four hits aren't going to cut it against an NL Central-leading Brewers team with their ace on the mound. 

Surprise, surprise, that proved to be the case. 

The Giants scored both of their runs in the bottom of the third inning. Mike Yastrzemski came around to score on a passed ball before Joc Pederson knocked in Joey Bart with an RBI single. Seven innings later, the Giants went down quietly in the bottom of the 10th inning after scratching across just three hits the rest of the game. 

A stark contrast to the 13-run shutout win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

They certainly had opportunities with runners in scoring position in multiple innings, but alas, one of the game's best pitching complete pitching staff silenced an inconsistent San Francisco offense. 

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