Included in Gabe Kapler’s wish list of areas the Giants need to improve in that he rattled off pregame was getting healthier.
For the current Giants, that might as well be a euphemism for not being able to hit left-handed pitching. Without both Austin Slater and Mitch Haniger, the Giants’ lineups against southpaws have been thin and unproductive.
Entering Friday, the Giants ranked 29th in OPS against lefties. As a team, they hit .211 in such situations. Opponents have deployed lefties to both start games and take the ball in relief to shut down San Francisco.
Even against the Mets’ Joey Lucchesi, a left-handed starter who last pitched in MLB in 2021 due to Tommy John surgery, the Giants offense slowed to a halt.
Against Lucchesi, the Giants registered four hits — one of which went for extra bases. They grounded into three double plays in seven scoreless frames. The loudest Oracle Park got was when 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy popped up on the scoreboard, and he waved to fans from his seat behind home plate.
The most overmatched team against lefties recorded four hits against Mets southpaws. The most strikeout-prone team added 12 more to their unsustainable total. The offensive drought for the Giants (6-13) added up to a 7-0 shutout loss to New York. Drowning in a brutal start to the 2023 season, the Giants have now lost seven of eight games.
“It’s probably, more than anything, starting to wear on us a little bit,” Friday’s starter Anthony DeSclafani said postgame. “It’d be nice to be playing a little bit better baseball and stringing some wins together…At some point, we need to obviously get going. But there’s a lot of baseball left. And there’s no reason to dwell on anything just yet.”
DeSclafani allowed one run through the first four frames before letting misfortune compound on him in the fifth.
DeSclafani should’ve been out of the inning when Jeff McNeil drilled a swinging bunt a foot in front of home plate, but catcher Joey Bart’s throw hit him and sailed into the right field foul territory. The throw is supposed to go on the inside of the bag, but Bart’s tailed too far toward foul territory. The play isn’t reviewable, Kapler said, but video showed McNeil running legally.
One pitch later, Pete Alonso socked his 10th home run of the year — a two-run shot to dead center to put New York up 4-0.
Preventing damage was also an area Kapler mentioned when asked what the Giants need to do to turn their slow start around. San Francisco has been one of the best clubs at preventing home runs over the past two seasons. But Alonso’s jack was the 27th the Giants pitching staff has allowed already; it took SF 38 games to give up that many last year.
DeSclafani began the season with a 1.42 ERA in three starts. His stuff was still reminiscent of his standout 2021 campaign; he induced six groundouts and no flyouts, almost entirely missing barrels except for Alonso.
The Giants’ offense, on the other side, missed barrels the entire night. Wilmer Flores’ first-inning double was the only extra base hit SF mustered off Lucchesi.
Flores also grounded into two double plays, though. J.D. Davis, arguably the Giants’ hottest hitter, grounded into another and struck out looking twice.
Davis, David Villar and Mike Yastrzemski struck out in order in the seventh — Lucchesi’s final frame.
The Mets lefty started and finished the night with a 0.00 ERA. He surrendered four hits in seven scoreless frames.
New York brought in left-handed reliever Brooks Raley to take over for Lucchesi. Given San Francisco’s track record, it doesn’t take a genius why.
Raley retired the side while striking out two, bringing the Giants’ total into the double digits for the 12th time this season.
There’s no exact timetable for Slater and Haniger’s return, although both are in the middle of rehab assignments and progressing.
“I think it’s a pretty big shift in the depth and the explosiveness of our lineup against left-handed pitching,” Kapler said of when Haniger and Slater return. “So it’s a pretty significant change.”
San Francisco is clearly urgent to bring them back, but doesn’t want to put their health at risk, Kapler said.
The Mets tacked on three more in the top of the ninth against Sean Hjelle. They didn’t need the extra runs. San Francisco’s offense made sure of that in its third shutout of the year.
Unless the Giants’ streaky offense can straighten up soon, they risk falling out of any relevant race before summer. Even if when posed with a question of if he’s worried about dropping too far below .500, Kapler projected poise.
“No, not from a record standpoint,” Kapler said. “I definitely expect us to play better baseball going forward. That’s not negotiable. We have to do that to be competitive in our division. But no, I’m not concerned about where we are today, on April 21.”