SF Giants fall to 0-2 in new City Connects with blowout loss to Brewers
SAN FRANCISCO — The first iteration of the Giants’ City Connect uniforms weren’t an instant hit, but they won over fans by winning in them. Safe to say, the black, orange and purple “Remix” versions unveiled this season will have to survive on style alone.
The Giants certainly weren’t winning any style points with their play Tuesday in an 11-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
They committed a pair of errors and allowed the Brewers to bat around in an eight-run sixth inning while falling to 0-2 in their new alternate threads, which they’ll continue to wear for each Tuesday home game. They started 6-0 in the former creamsicle version and went 30-16 overall.
The Giants also lost for the third straight time behind Jordan Hicks, who was charged with six of the runs (five earned) while allowing eight hits and issuing three walks, raising his ERA to 6.59. Five more went on the line of Lou Trivino, who served up a pair of home runs, including a grand slam, after relieving Hicks.
“We didn’t play great defense behind him,” manager Bob Melvin said of Hicks, who fell to 1-3. “I don’t think he threw the ball badly. Had good velo, good breaking stuff at times. That one inning got away from us completely. But we didn’t play good defense, either.”
The Brewers didn’t hit a ball further than 201 feet in the air until Sal Frelick flew out for the second out of the third inning, but they dinked, dunked, sliced and diced Hicks to the tune of six hits and an early 3-0 lead. Caleb Durbin, the No. 9 hitter, got things started by poking a leadoff double just inside first base, and William Contreras came through with the biggest knock, shooting a ground ball past Matt Chapman with runners on second and third who both scored.
“That’s the kind of team they are,” Hicks said. “They don’t strike out much, but they put the ball in play and they found the holes today. … Just a tough one.”
Milwaukee blew the game open after Melvin sent Hicks out for the sixth inning after already laboring through five on 90 pitches. He didn’t record another out, through little fault of his own. The leadoff man, Jake Bauers, reached on an infield single. Willy Adames’ throw pulled David Villar off the bag on another ground ball, giving Milwaukee runners at first and second. And then Patrick Bailey let a ball squirt away from him and fired it into right field attempting to pick off the trailing runner.
The Giants had been the last team left in the majors without a multi-error game, but that streak came to an end with errant throws by Adames and Bailey.
“We’ve been really good defensively,” Melvin said. “When you have innings like that where you’re not, it can tend to get away from you a little bit.”
Melvin made a beeline for the mound after Hicks issued his fourth ball to the third batter of the inning on his 105th pitch of the night, and the Giants trailed 11-1 by the time Spencer Bivens recorded the third out of the inning. Christian Yelich delivered the knockout blow with a grand slam to straightaway center off Trivino, and Bauers piled on with a two-run shot in his second plate appearance of the inning.
Hicks missed low with back-to-back splitters after getting two strikes on his final batter, and he said, “I feel like if I just execute the splitter there, it’s a whole different ballgame. But it got away from me and things started to unravel a little bit.”
Since tossing six shutout innings in his first start of the season, Hicks has surrendered at least three runs and six hits each time he’s taken the mound, allowing opponents to hit .318 while posting an 8.44 ERA over his past four starts.
“The stuff is good,” Melvin said. “He’s just finding period where he lets it get away from him a little bit. They put some pretty good at-bats on him, too, especially in the third inning, hitting the ball the other away, not trying to pull him — that’s when you hit him on the ground.”
The 11 runs amounted to the most the Giants have allowed in a game this season. The eight-spot the Brewers put up in the sixth inning were more than any team has scored on San Francisco’s pitching staff in 21 of their prior 23 games entering Tuesday night.
With the left-hander Jose Quintana going for the Brewers, David Villar got his second start since being called up from Triple-A Sacramento and drove a double to right field in his first at-bat to lead off the bottom of the third. Tyler Fitzgerald shattered his bat and snuck another hit into the opposite field to drive him home, making it 3-1.
That was all the Giants would muster against Quintana, who hasn’t allowed more than one run in any of his first three starts (0.96 ERA).
After delivering the go-ahead home run in Monday night’s win, Wilmer Flores reached base in all four of his trips to the plate and knocked in Jung Hoo Lee to cut the deficit to 11-3 for his 25th RBI of the season, tied with Aaron Judge, Kyle Tucker and Pete Alonso for the MLB lead. That was just one of two hits the Giants produced in 10 chances with runners in scoring position, stranding seven on base.
Southpaws continue to be a source of trouble for the Giants, who fell to 2-7 when facing a left-handed starting pitcher — opposed to 13-2 vs. righties.