SAN FRANCISCO -- During his college days at Stanford, Tristan Beck used to make frequent trips to San Francisco to watch Giants games at Oracle Park. He took in the action from a number of vantage points -- bleacher seats, box seats, even from a kayak out in McCovey Cove. 

On Thursday night, Beck finally got his first experience at field level.

The 26-year-old right-hander made his Major League debut in the Giants’ 9-4 series-opening loss to the Mets, delivering 5 1/3 innings in relief behind starter Sean Manaea.

The Mets jumped out to a 5-0 lead following a rough outing from Manaea, but the Giants pulled within one after Blake Sabol and LaMonte Wade Jr. homered to power a four-run rally against New York right-hander Kodai Senga in the fifth. 

Beck couldn’t keep it close, surrendering a solo shot to Jeff McNeil in the sixth before allowing three more runs in the seventh, but he showed flashes of why the Giants were so high on him this spring, topping out at 97 mph with his fastball and inducing eight swinging strikes with his slider. 

“Felt great, man,” said Beck, who was charged with four runs on nine hits and struck out five. “It was surprisingly comfortable. I haven’t been to the park in years. Definitely never had a field-level view. I kept my head down on that jog in and then kind of looked up for the first time when I got to the mound. Then it was just me and Sabol back behind the plate. Obviously, some adrenaline, some nerves helping me along. But it really did just feel like baseball once we got it going.”

The Giants, who have yet to win back-to-back games this year, fell to 6-12 on the season. They are one of three teams without consecutive wins in 2023, joining the A’s (3-16) and White Sox (7-12). It doesn’t get easier from here, as the Giants are currently in the midst of a challenging stretch in which they’ll face the Mets, Cardinals, Padres, Astros and Brewers.  

“I think we’ve just got to be firing on all cylinders,” Manaea said. “Some guys definitely are. Some guys aren’t -- i.e. me. I think once we all figure that out and start vibing together, good things are going to come.”

Manaea needed 88 pitches to get through 3 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on four hits, three walks and two hit batsmen. It was the second consecutive start in which Manaea was unable to complete four innings, raising his ERA to 6.60 through four appearances this year.

The 31-year-old veteran opened his outing with three scoreless innings, though he took some early bruising after being struck on the right calf and hip by a pair of comebackers from Brandon Nimmo and Tommy Pham. 

Manaea’s command issues caught up to him in the fourth, when he hit Francisco Lindor and then gave up a two-run homer to Pete Alonso. After plunking McNeil with one out, Manaea allowed another two-run shot to Eduardo Escobar and an RBI double to Nimmo, putting the Giants in a 5-0 hole. 

“I don’t think Sean was as sharp as he’s been at times, even before the beginning of the game,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He obviously got drilled with a couple of line drives, some hard contact. He’s a very talented pitcher with a big arm. He can shut a team down at any point. Today just wasn’t his day.”

Beck, who was called up from Triple-A Sacramento on Wednesday to replace the injured Alex Wood on the 26-man roster, was summoned with two outs in the fourth, drawing loud cheers from the approximately 35 friends and family members who were in the stands for his debut. He coaxed a flyout from Mark Canha to end the inning and then cruised through a 1-2-3 fifth, recording his first career Major League strikeout by striking out Tommy Pham looking on a 96.7 mph fastball.

McNeil opened the sixth by launching a slider over the right-field arcade for a solo blast that extended the Mets’ lead to 6-4. Beck ran into more trouble in the seventh, allowing the first five batters to reach to spark a three-run rally for New York. Still, Beck managed to soak up the final two innings to give the Giants’ taxed bullpen a much-needed night off.

“It was really good work,” Kapler said. “A lot of strikes, a lot of first-pitch strikes. He was going after some really talented hitters, and they got to him over the course of his outing, but I think that was just a function of the Mets being a good lineup with quality hitters from the right side and from the left side.”

“I’m not taking too much from it,” Beck said. “I’m happy with the way I threw the ball and executed today. I have some very concrete things I want to change going forward, and I’m pretty confident I can make those changes happen.”