Luciano continues to impress in late-season audition

LOS ANGELES -- Prior to Saturday’s game, Giants manager Gabe Kapler was asked how much evaluation could realistically be made over the final week of the regular season, particularly when it comes to young rookies like Marco Luciano.

“I think you can really evaluate intangibles in those small sample sizes,” Kapler said. “This is a pretty lively environment around this time of year. … Marco at shortstop has looked as calm and poised as he could possibly look. I haven’t seen an ounce of extra stress. You can evaluate those things and hang your hat on it.”

The 22-year-old Luciano continued to impress in his late-season audition at shortstop, delivering one of only two hits against Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw in a 7-0 loss at Dodger Stadium. After dropping seven of nine games on this road trip, San Francisco slipped back under .500 and fell to 7-14 in September.

• Games remaining (7): at LAD (1), vs. SD (3), vs. LAD (3)
• Standings update: The Giants (77-78) are four games behind the Cubs (81-74) for the third and final National League Wild Card spot. They also trail the Marlins (80-75) and Reds (79-77) in the race.
• Elimination number: 4

Luciano, who is ranked the Giants’ No. 2 prospect by MLB Pipeline, struck out swinging on a slider in his first at-bat against Kershaw, but he drove the same pitch into the right-center-field gap for a leadoff double in the fifth. Luciano’s extra-base hit -- the second of his career -- left his bat at 107.5 mph, the highest exit velocity of the night for either club.

“That’s poise, that’s power,” Kapler said. “We don’t see many balls hit that hard to the opposite field. You can see by [right fielder Jason] Heyward’s jump and read that it kind of surprised him how hard it was hit. It carried over his head because of that power that Marco has. It’s a good signal.”

Fellow rookie Luis Matos followed with his second walk of the night to put a pair of runners on with no outs, but Kershaw struck out Tyler Fitzgerald, coaxed a groundout from Patrick Bailey and then got an assist from David Peralta, who made a sliding grab on Austin Slater’s sinking liner to left field to end the inning.

Kershaw, who was making potentially his final regular-season career start at Dodger Stadium, worked five scoreless innings to lower his lifetime ERA against the Giants to 1.99 over 58 appearances, his most against any opponent.

“I think what I find most interesting about Clayton is he doesn’t necessarily have to throw 94 [mph],” Kapler said. “I was actually talking to some of the younger players about kind of the honor of facing a pitcher of that caliber. One of the best pitchers of our generation, one of the best pitchers of all time. But he does it with a craftiness that is really second to none. His slider-curveball-fastball combination keeps you off balance, and he spots it up. Even at 88 to 90 mph, he can shut you down like he did today.”

John Brebbia returned to the opener role for the first time since June 16 and delivered a 1-2-3 first inning, but he surrendered a leadoff home run to J.D. Martinez to open the second. Jakob Junis entered the game to replace Brebbia, but he gave up a two-run double to Martinez in the third and recorded only four outs before departing with neck tightness.

Los Angeles continued to pad its lead against former Dodger Ross Stripling, who gave up four runs on seven hits over four innings.

Luciano debuted with the Giants on July 26, but he appeared in only four games before being optioned to Triple-A Sacramento and then missed nearly a month with a hamstring injury. He looked a bit rusty at the plate after rejoining the River Cats on Sept. 12, hitting .136 with two home runs and 14 strikeouts over six games, but he’s seemingly regained his timing now that he’s back with the Giants.

Since being called up to fill in for the injured Brandon Crawford on Thursday, Luciano is 4-for-10 with a walk and a stolen base over three games. His two hits on Friday also had eye-popping exit velocities of 111.8 and 107.8 mph, showcasing the offensive potential that could make him the heir apparent to Crawford, who is unsigned beyond this season.

“It’s not something that I worked on in Sacramento,” Luciano said in Spanish. “That’s what I’ve done my whole career. What I like to do in the batter’s box is make good contact and have good results."