Hicks feeling effects of starter's workload as first half comes to an end

SAN FRANCISCO -- There are few Giants who could use the All-Star break more than Jordan Hicks, who continued to show signs of leaking oil as he wrapped up his first half on Thursday afternoon.

Hicks gave up five runs over 4 1/3 innings in the Giants’ 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Oracle Park, marking the fourth time in his past seven outings that he’s been unable to complete at least five frames.

Hicks, who has already thrown a career-high 95 innings in his first season as a full-time starter, was pitching on two extra days of rest, but he still didn’t have his best stuff against Toronto, yielding eight hits -- including two home runs -- and one walk while displaying a dip in velocity. The 27-year-old averaged 92.2 mph on his sinker, down from his season average of 94.5 mph, and recorded only one strikeout over his 88-pitch outing.

“I’m getting to that point where I am starting to feel it a little bit,” Hicks said. “The first half of the first half felt really good. The body felt great. The second half of the first half, it’s kind of just been a slow decline overall. I don’t know how to say this without making it sound like an excuse. I just haven’t really had it. When I reach back, I’m getting 94-95 [mph] instead of 97-98.

“I feel healthy. That’s not the thing I’m worried about. It’s just more about overall fatigue. I wake up, I’m fine. I get to the start of the game, I feel great. It’s just like that toll on the body as the third inning kind of creeps around right now.”

Hicks opened the season by going 4-1 with a 2.33 ERA over his first 11 starts, but his effectiveness has waned as he’s continued to shoulder the biggest workload of his career. Thursday’s loss dropped him to 0-5 with a 6.08 ERA (25 earned runs over 37 innings) over his past eight outings, leaving him winless since May 19.

The Giants hope the All-Star break will give Hicks at least another week off and help refresh him going into the second half, but there’s a good chance he’ll end up shifting to the bullpen once veteran starters Robbie Ray (Tommy John surgery) and Alex Cobb (left hip surgery) return from the injured list in the coming weeks.

“Once we get there, we’ll probably have an idea,” manager Bob Melvin said. “But as of right now, we know he’s going to have to start until then. We signed him as a starter. Obviously, we have to look at the innings at some point in time. But give him credit, he takes the ball every fifth day and goes out there for us and tries to give as much as he can.”

“A lot of conversations are coming in the next week or so,” Hicks said. “We’ll see how everything shakes out.”

The Blue Jays scored three runs against Hicks in the first inning, capped by a Danny Jansen solo shot to left field. Heliot Ramos didn’t help matters by allowing Spencer Horwitz’s fly ball to hit off his glove, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs, but he made up for his error by blasting a two-run homer off former Giant Kevin Gausman in the bottom of the first.

Hicks got through the second and third innings unscathed, but he surrendered a two-out RBI single to No. 9 hitter Leo Jiménez in the fourth before allowing a leadoff homer to Horwitz that put the Giants in a 5-2 hole in the fifth.

Mike Yastrzemski added a solo shot off Chad Green in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little, too late for the Giants, who sank four games under .500 (45-49) after dropping two of three to the Blue Jays. San Francisco will close the first half with a three-game series against the Twins, and the Giants will attempt to avoid losing more ground in the crowded National League Wild Card race, where they’re three games behind the Mets (47-45) for the final playoff spot.

"We have three key games," Melvin said. "We get right to the .500 mark, and we lose a couple games. We need to have a good series to go away and have a good feeling about being that much closer to .500. It's important, there are some teams that are starting to separate a little bit from the .500 mark. We can't fall too far behind."