Hicks, Giants outdueled by Sale as offense cools

ATLANTA -- The Giants entered Wednesday having scored at least three runs in 12 straight games, tied with the Brewers for the longest active streak in the Majors, but they couldn’t keep that run of production going against a resurgent Chris Sale.

San Francisco mustered only three hits against the veteran left-hander in a 3-1 loss to the Braves, which evened this three-game series at Truist Park.

Sale struck out nine and didn’t allow a hit until Curt Casali lined a two-out single to right-center field in the fifth inning. The Giants pushed across their lone run in the sixth, when Jorge Soler doubled and scored on Matt Chapman’s two-out RBI double just inside the left-field foul line. Chapman advanced to third on a wild pitch, but Sale coaxed an inning-ending groundout from Luis Matos on his 103rd and final pitch of the night.

“That was as close to vintage Chris Sale that I’ve seen,” Casali said. “I think the past couple of years, he’s definitely using more fastballs than he has. He was throwing a lot of sliders for strikes. When it’s moving that much, it’s tough to commit to it when you know that you have to guard against 96 [mph]. The last couple of years, it’s been 92, 93, so it’s a more comfortable feeling. But sometimes you’ve just got to flip your hip open to get to that 96 now. If he throws the wrong pitch, then you’re kind of in a bad position. We’ve got to tip our hat to him. He’s pitched well all year, and he continued to do that tonight.”

The 35-year-old Sale, who lowered his ERA to 2.71 while joining the Royals’ Seth Lugo as the only 11-game winners in the Majors this year, outdueled Giants starter Jordan Hicks, who gave up three runs on eight hits over five innings. Hicks remains winless since May 19, going 0-4 with a 5.01 ERA over his last eight starts, though he kept the Giants within striking distance on Wednesday, striking out six and racking up 17 swinging strikes.

“For me, it’s just been about two-out execution the past few games,” Hicks said. “I’ve given up six runs on two-out rallies. Those later innings, I just need to find a way to bear down and get that third out after two quick ones. I think that’s the biggest thing.”

The Braves got on the board behind Adam Duvall’s RBI double in the second inning, though Matos helped scuttle another rally in the third by making a tumbling catch on Austin Riley’s sinking liner to left field.

Still, Riley came back to deliver the decisive hit of the night in the fifth, driving a first-pitch sinker from Hicks off the right-field wall for a two-out, two-run double that extended the Braves’ lead to 3-0.

“They hit non-executed pitches today,” Casali said. “I thought [Hicks] threw well. I thought he was competing really well. Sometimes it’s just a matter of a couple of runs. When the other guy is dominating like that and you can’t get anything going, it’s kind of a tough spot to be in.”

Atlanta nearly kept the rally going after Riley attempted to score from second on Travis d’Arnaud’s subsequent single to right field. Austin Slater made a strong throw to the plate, but home plate umpire Ryan Additon initially ruled that Riley slid in ahead of Casali’s swiping tag. Still, the call was overturned following a successful challenge from the Giants, taking a run off the board for the Braves and ending the inning.

Even with the defensive assist, the Giants’ bats couldn’t make up the deficit once they finally forced Sale out of the game. They brought the tying run to the plate after Chapman reached on a one-out single in the ninth, but Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias induced a flyout from Matos and struck out Brett Wisely to hand the Giants only their third loss in their last nine games.

Hicks is now up to 90 2/3 innings over 18 starts this year, an ongoing career high, though he’s been doing more conditioning in between outings to make sure he can continue to handle the workload in his first full year as a starter. The 27-year-old right-hander could be a candidate to shift to the bullpen at some point in the second half, but the Giants will need him to continue to hold down a rotation spot until Kyle Harrison, Blake Snell, Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb return from the injured list.

“Right now, I’m not really thinking about it, to be honest,” Hicks said last week. “I probably won’t even think about it until I get to 115 to 120 and then we’ll start having some serious conversations about it, I’m sure. But for now, I just want to keep going out there and battling. I’m trying to get better every outing.”