Slumping Giants can't solve Mariners' Gilbert

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants’ bats continued to fizzle on the Fourth of July, mustering no pop as they were blanked, 6-0, by Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert on Tuesday afternoon at Oracle Park.

Gilbert needed 105 pitches to throw his first shutout for Seattle, allowing only five hits while striking out seven and walking none. The Giants put only two runners in scoring position, with only one of their hits -- a fourth-inning double by Mike Yastrzemski -- going for extra bases.

“He was pretty good with his extension on his fastball,” manager Gabe Kapler said of Gilbert. “His split was playing well. He’s got great command. He always does. But today he was especially in the zone with all of his pitches. The combination of the extension on the fastball and the split and the slider, it kept our hitters a little bit off balance. There was some hard contact, but most of it was on the ground. I think today you just give all the credit in the world to Gilbert.”

San Francisco has now dropped four in a row and seven of its past nine, falling to 46-40 with four games to go until the All-Star break. The hiatus can’t come soon enough for the banged-up Giants, who have struggled to overcome the loss of key hitters such as Thairo Estrada (left hand fracture) and Mitch Haniger (right forearm fracture) in recent weeks.

After averaging 7.3 runs per game during their 12-1 stretch last month, the Giants are now hitting only .191 with 22 runs scored over their past nine games. Veterans Joc Pederson (8-for-his-past-49) and Brandon Crawford (6-for-37) are mired in extended slumps, and rookies Luis Matos (8-for-39) and Casey Schmitt (8-for-66) have also cooled off after enjoying hot starts at the plate.

San Francisco’s offense has been particularly sluggish early in games, as it ranks last in the Majors with only 35 runs through the first four innings since June 1.

“It’s definitely tough,” said third baseman J.D. Davis, who went 2-for-4 to boost his batting average to .286 on the season. “We were on a roll and then over this last week to eight days it's been kind of hit and miss. It’s bound to happen. The season is a seesaw. But we’re still confident in each other. I think we’re just going through a little bit of a sluggish period right now. A lot of bad travel. Hopefully we can pick up on our sleep schedule, catch up on this off-day that’s coming up on Thursday and get things rolling.”

Rookie right-hander Keaton Winn was charged with the loss after giving up three runs on six hits over four innings in his second career start for the Giants. Winn was brilliant in his last outing against the Blue Jays, working six innings of two-run ball on 67 pitches, but his command wasn’t quite as sharp on Tuesday.

Seattle scored in each of the first three innings, though Winn found a way to limit the damage despite navigating plenty of early traffic on the basepaths. The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs in the second, but they cashed in on only one run after Mike Ford scored from third on a wild pitch by Winn. Ford, who appeared in one game for the Giants last year, went 4-for-5 with three extra-base hits, including a solo shot off Winn that extended Seattle’s lead to 3-0 in the third.

“Keaton was a little bit off with his command,” Kapler said. “His split was in the middle of the plate and up. That’s enough.”

The Giants will send Alex Cobb to the mound as they look to avoid being swept by the Mariners in Wednesday night’s series finale at Oracle Park. They’ll then try to catch their break on Thursday’s off-day before closing the first half with a three-game series against the Rockies that begins on Friday night.

“Whenever you get at least three, four, five days to kick up the feet and relax and get away from baseball and lock back in for the second half, I think that’s huge,” Davis said. “At the same time, we can’t just be looking ahead. We can’t just tread lightly and take these games for granted. We’ve got to end on a good note and make the best out of this [last week].”