SAN FRANCISCO -- Through 2 2/3 innings Monday night, Brady Singer was cruising through the Giants’ lineup. He was getting swings and misses, weak contact, and even erased the one walk he issued in the second with a double play. He entered the third inning at just 24 pitches and was pitching with a lead that the Royals had manufactured moments earlier.

Thirty-six pitches and four consecutive walks later, that lead vanished, and free bases became the story of the day as the Giants walked all over the Royals for a 6-2 win in the series opener at Oracle Park.

The Royals walked nine batters -- matching a season high -- and hit one in the late, laborious loss, while only allowing five hits. In fact, the Royals’ offense outhit the Giants, 6-5, and still lost by four runs. San Francisco ushered in the timely hits with men on base. The Royals had only two batters reach base after the third inning.

“Tone was set early, Brady looked like he had really good stuff,” manager Mike Matheny said. “Gave us a chance to get the offense going, couple guys on and a couple runs. Those are the ones we have to try to figure out how to put away.

“We need to be able to add on on those days we’re having trouble. The one inning did add up, [and a] couple walks later on, [we] ended up with nine [walks] on the day and a hit batsman. That’s too many free bases.”

The walk parade started with Singer’s third inning. The right-hander hadn’t allowed a hit until there were two outs in the third, when Austin Wynns roped a double to the right-field corner.

Of Singer’s next 19 pitches, only three were strikes. He entered the day having issued only four walks this entire season. He matched that total in one inning Monday and ended with five total.

Part of the reason for the lack of command, the Royals discussed after the game, was Singer’s hand placement on his fastball, an issue he ran into during Spring Training and the early part of this season. He fell into a grip that causes too much cut on his fastball and not enough sink, and he’s unable to control the movement of the pitch. The Giants, in turn, became passive in their approach.

“I lose command of the pitch,” Singer said. “It doesn’t have the life or the sink that it usually has. You can see the ball cut across the zone. I don’t know if it’s actually cutting, but you just don’t see the action it usually has.

“It was a weird inning. I felt fine. I felt like the mechanics were fine. Just got away from it there, and need to go back and look at it to be sure. But I think the hand placement was definitely something that we were looking at.”

Singer corrected his grip for scoreless fourth and fifth innings. But because of the 36-pitch third, he was at 89 pitches after five, and Matheny opted to go to Amir Garrett -- the only lefty in the Royals’ 'pen -- to face the middle of the Giants’ order with the game tied.

The walks continued.

Garrett walked Austin Slater -- who pinch-hit for left-handed hitter Joc Pederson -- then struck out Brandon Crawford before allowing the go-ahead single to Thairo Estrada. Right-hander Jose Cuas walked and hit the first two batters he faced before getting out of the inning.

Arodys Vizcaíno added two more walks, and both came around to score on Brandon Crawford’s two-run double in the seventh.

The Royals acknowledged that to improve in 2022 would mean an improvement to their pitching, from their young starters to their bullpen. But beyond flashes of potential, the Royals haven’t found the upgrade they sought. They rank third worst in baseball in ERA (5.18), have the worst K-BB% (7.4) in the Majors and have a Major League-high 132 ERA-, per FanGraphs, a statistic that accounts for the ballpark and the league average.

Kansas City has young arms in its rotation, enduring the ups and downs of the beginning of their Major League careers. But the bullpen, beyond high-leverage relievers Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow, has been tasked with a lot of innings and has been unable to help finish games, with Monday as another example.

“You’re just going to have to continue to pick each other up,” Matheny said. “Different guys are going to have to start helping us out.”