SAN DIEGO -- The Giants will spend the next four days continuing to try to figure out who they really are, and there are plenty of signs that this team is in fact ready to contend down the stretch.
But Saturday night gave some ammo to any in the front office who are skittish. A familiar trend has emerged over the past week, though it mostly has been obscured by a few timely hits and a lockdown bullpen.
The Giants lost 5-1 at Petco Park and looked as quiet as they did for most of the first half. They have scored three runs in two games here, and over their last nine games they have just 25 runs and are batting .207. They are 6-3 over the span, but the team that was able to beat you in a one-run contest or pummel you to death is now once again one-dimensional.
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"You're not going to stay quite there," Bochy said of the lineup's absurd level for most of July. "With that said, we've had a tough time here putting runs on the board. It's just an off night. It's going to happen. You're not always going to get those timely hits. We had been on a roll, but it was just missing today."
That left no wiggle room for rookie Shaun Anderson, who had a rough month on the mound as the rest of the team seemed to take off. Anderson had a sharp slider Saturday but paid for a mistake pitch to Fernando Tatis Jr. He had buzzed the rookie superstar off the plate with a fastball in, but a breaking ball on the next pitch hung over the plate. Tatis Jr. blasted it to center, giving the Padres a 3-0 lead.
"We were going to go breaking ball right off that, down and away, but it got too much of the plate," Anderson said. "He's a good hitter and he got to it."
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San Francisco Giants
Tatis Jr. had three hits out of the leadoff spot. On the other end, Brandon Belt was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. Bochy hinted that Belt could get a day to clear his head on Sunday. Belt has been the lineup's primary leadoff hitter during this comeback stretch but has just nine hits in his last 53 at-bats.
"I know he's got to be pressing a little bit," Bochy said.