Anderson struggles as Deadline looms for SF

It’s been an up-and-down week for Giants starter Tyler Anderson, but it’s the rest of the weekend that could determine how active his club is before Monday's 1 p.m. PT Trade Deadline.

Last Saturday, Anderson threw his first career complete game against the D-backs in San Francisco. But six days later, he couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning against the same team at Chase Field.

Anderson allowed seven runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings in Friday's 7-4 loss to Arizona. He struck out three and walked three during the 88-pitch outing in the opener of San Francisco's five-game road trip.

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The Giants have lost three straight games, and how they fare in the final two contests of the series against the D-backs will help determine how they approach the Trade Deadline.

“We know that the last two games against the Dodgers were not our best games, and tonight wasn't our best game, but one thing that we continue to show is fight and grit,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “So I'm confident in this group, and they're going to come back ready to get after it [Saturday].”

The biggest difference this time around? The D-backs changed it up and Anderson didn’t. He got 16 outs on his changeup in his previous start against Arizona, throwing it 37 times. On Friday, seven of his nine hits allowed came off his changeup, which he threw 33 times.

It’s hard to blame Anderson for not abandoning his changeup. The average exit velocity on batted balls against the pitch was 83.6 mph, per Statcast. The season average against his changeup is 85 mph.

And it’s not as if the D-backs’ offense was dominating him. They did just enough.

“It definitely looked like they were sitting on that [changeup], but you got a lot of weak contact,” Anderson said. “If you throw a changeup and a guy hits it off the end and it's a bloop over second base, or like it's a flare in center field, a lot of times you want to stay on that [pitch]. They had a couple of good ones, but for the most part, even if they're sitting on it, you've got to be able to throw it and at least do the work to get back to it.”

Anderson struggled from the get-go. He struck out Tim Locastro to open the first inning, but he then gave up consecutive hits to Ketel Marte and Starling Marte to put the Giants in an early 1-0 hole. The D-backs tacked on two runs in the third on a sacrifice fly by Christian Walker and a single by David Peralta for a 3-0 lead.

“There was a little bit more patience on the part of the D-backs' hitters, and I don't think Tyler had the same command that he did the last time out,” Kapler said. “Last time, every time they put about a ball, we were there to make a play, and that was a little bit different today as well.”

In the fifth, the D-backs scored four runs on a walk, four hits, an error and a wild pitch to extend their lead to 7-0 and chase Anderson.

“Tyler knows hitters are going to make adjustments and I think one really big challenge going out against a team that you've just faced is knowing that the last outing is fresh on their minds,” Kapler said. “They watch a ton of video and they're going to be making adjustments, but I don't think that's anything unusual for a starting pitcher to understand and I think Tyler has a good handle on that. More than anything, we just want him, and all of us to turn the page and get ready for his next outing.”

Evan Longoria hit a solo homer in the sixth, but that was the only run the Giants scored in seven innings against Arizona right-hander Zac Gallen. In the ninth, they rallied for three runs against Taylor Widener, as Wilmer Flores hit an RBI double and Brandon Crawford swatted a two-run homer, but they came up short.

Caleb Baragar, Sam Selman and Wandy Peralta combined for 3 1/3 innings of hitless relief for San Francisco.