John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Lost amid the Giants mania that has swept the Bay Area has been the way they’ve been winning recently.
An offense that broke Miller Park and Coors Field has broken at Oracle Park.
The Giants went mostly quietly Saturday, Jeff Samardzija hit hard and the bats gaining no traction until late in an 11-4 loss to the Mets, snapping a season-high seven-game win streak that has made these games relevant.
A team that had scored 62 runs in seven games has scored eight runs in 35 innings against New York, somehow capturing the first two games of the series anyway. While struggles against Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom were more understandable, a dud against Walker Lockett, who entered with an 11.74 ERA in two games, was less forgivable.
The Giants managed five hits against the rookie making his seventh career appearance and finished the game with nine — three in the ninth inning, when meaningless homers from Alex Dickerson and Mike Yastrzemski made the result slightly less lopsided. Pablo Sandoval went 4-for-4, at least giving the fans something to cheer about.
The Giants scored a run in the fifth on a Joe Panik RBI single to make it 4-1, but the Mets promptly hit two homers in the top of the sixth to remove any comeback hopes. A big top of the ninth against poor call-up Ty Blach (three innings, seven hits, three runs) made it a laugher.
The loss dropped the Giants back under .500, 49-50, still in the midst of a playoff chase yet with a problem that seems to be accentuated with each game at spacious Oracle Park. The Giants have struggled scoring at home all season, averaging 3.3 runs and, entering the game, slashing .224/.291/.354 in San Francisco. They’ve also struggled winning at home, falling to 22-27.
While Madison Bumgarner and Tyler Beede were able to pick up the missing bats, Samardzija failed. The big right-hander was twice victimized by long Mets home runs, lasting just five innings and giving up four runs on six hits.
He tried to hang in after escaping danger in the first inning, but a Dominic Smith homer in the second inning set him back. He then faded in the fourth and fifth, Todd Frazier getting knocked in after tripling and Jeff McNeil’s two-run dinger to right doing the damage.
The start ends an upturn for Samardzija, who had been having a stellar July. In three outings, he had given up four runs in 21 2/3 innings (1.66 ERA), both reestablishing himself as a piece who can help the Giants and providing the team with a long shot to deal the 34-year-old, who’s due $18 million next season. That almost certainly won’t happen.
After Samardzija was removed, Derek Holland poured dirt on the Giants as they got buried, letting up homers to Frazier and Pete Alonso in the sixth.