Samardzija struggles as SF's streak is snapped

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants probably settled one of their Trade Deadline-related issues Saturday, though they didn’t do it in the way they would have preferred during their 11-4 loss to the Mets.

Right-hander Jeff Samardzija, considered at one time to be a marketable commodity for the Giants, delivered such an ordinary performance in his start against the Mets that he might have alienated potential suitors for his services. He allowed four runs and six hits in five innings, including home runs by Dominic Smith in the second inning and Jeff McNeil in the fifth.

The Mets out-hit San Francisco, 17-9, giving themselves enough offensive impetus to snap the Giants’ season-high seven-game winning streak.

• Box score

Manager Bruce Bochy, whose Giants (49-50) missed a chance to climb over .500, reacted to the defeat philosophically.

“You’re going to have a game like this,” Bochy said. “We hit a bump in the road here.”

That certainly was the case for Samardzija (7-8), who fell to 0-6 with an 8.21 ERA in six career starts against the Mets. Had he sustained his July excellence -- as his 3-0 record and 1.66 ERA in three games earlier this month reflected -- he might have piqued interest from multiple teams needing starting help by the July 31 Trade Deadline.

However, dealing Samardzija would challenge the Giants under any set of circumstances.

First, he has the right to block a trade to eight teams. The clubs on that list are not known.

Secondly, Samardzija is owed approximately $18 million per season through 2020. It’s believed that the Giants would pay a negotiable portion of Samardzija’s salary for the right to excise him from their payroll. But whether the Giants can find a mutually equitable figure is uncertain.

Moreover, determining Samardzija’s true value is difficult, given his lack of consistency.

McNeil’s homer typified Samardzija’s afternoon. Samardzija opened the game by fanning him. The third time around, McNeil was ready for his adversary.

“We struck him out on a curveball in his first at-bat. He didn’t look too good on it,” Samardzija said.

So he tried to slip an 0-2 curve past McNeil, who smacked it as if he were escaping a sand trap at the British Open. McNeil has hit safely in all 10 of his starts against the Giants and is batting .432 (19-for-44) against them.

Given the Giants’ recent propensity for scoring runs, the 4-0 lead McNeil provided seemed reachable. But the lineup had long been mesmerized by Mets right-hander Walker Lockett (1-1), who earned his first Major League victory Saturday. Though Lockett entered the game with an 11.74 ERA in two previous starts, he wasn’t the pushover that this figure suggested.

“He had a good curveball going and he located it very well,” Bochy said.

After the Mets ravaged the Giants’ bullpen for seven runs, ninth-inning homers by Alex Dickerson and Mike Yastrzemski made the score a little less lopsided.