KANSAS CITY -- The Royals’ dugout was as ready as it could be to celebrate a walk-off win Friday night, players hanging over the railing with the bases loaded and one out as if to will away the offensive struggles and current losing streak.

When Garrett Hampson sliced a ball from Giants reliever Camilo Doval down the third-base line, the dugout erupted as the runners raced home.

Then reality set in. The ball was foul. Third-base umpire John Bacon called it so, and the umpiring crew even got on the headset with New York to verify that the batted ball landing in front of the set position of the first- or third-base umpire, like it did Friday, is non-reviewable.

Replay showed the ball was foul anyway, quite literally inches away from a walk-off double. Hampson settled for a sacrifice fly, cutting the Royals’ deficit in half, but Tommy Pham struck out swinging to end the Royals’ 2-1 series-opening loss to the Giants at Kauffman Stadium and extend their losing streak to five games.

“I just wanted to continue the line [moving],” Hampson said. “Pretty good at-bat, but I wish -- it’s a game of inches. That’s the way it goes.”

That’s the way it’s been going for the Royals lately. Kansas City (82-72) has scored just 13 runs in its past five games but has been outscored by only seven runs in that span, including three one-run defeats and two two-run losses.

Still, the losses hurt even more with eight games to go in the regular season and the playoff picture still fuzzy. The Royals still hold a two-game lead in the American League Wild Card because of the Tigers’ loss on Friday, four games behind the Orioles for the top Wild Card spot and one game ahead of Minnesota, who holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, for the third and final spot.

The American League Central-leading Guardians, who clinched a postseason berth on Thursday, could be crowned division champions with a win on Saturday in St. Louis or another Royals’ loss Saturday.

“We’ve got to have some better at-bats,” shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. said. “Put together some hits. Score some more runs. That’s really what it comes down to. We’ve got to get back to playing our baseball. It’s doing the little things right, getting back to that, and doing the fundamentals. Taking it one pitch at a time and improving. I feel like we haven’t done that the past few days.”

For a team that has shown it can bounce back quickly from losses or bad games and keep its sole focus on a one-day-at-a-time approach, the frustration was felt from the Royals’ clubhouse after Friday’s game.

“One-hundred percent,” Witt said when asked if there was frustration over the way things have gone lately. “I’ve said this a bunch. We didn’t come this far to just come this far. In the offseason, at the end of last year, this is what we wanted. Going into Spring Training.

“We’re in this hunt for a reason. We’ve got to prove ourselves right.”

It starts with getting the offense back on track. Giants rookie starter Mason Black entered Friday’s game 0-4 with a 7.07 ERA in seven career games (six starts). He held the Royals scoreless in 5 2/3 innings, a career high, despite the Royals reaching base in four of the six innings Black was on the mound.

The Royals stranded nine runners and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. They couldn’t catch a break on several hard-hit balls, but results matter more than anything, and the Royals are batting just 8-for-43 with runners in scoring position in the past five games. They’re batting .194 with RISP in their past 27 games since Aug. 23.

The slumping offense is doing anything it can to manufacture runs; in the second inning on Friday, Adam Frazier laid down a successful sacrifice bunt to move runners up to second and third. But Maikel Garcia lined out and Kyle Isbel flew out.

“Everybody wants to get a hit every time you get to the plate, whether you get big hits or not,” Frazier said. “It’s just a matter of finding a few holes. … That time’s going to come for us. It’s going to switch. We'll be good to go when it does.”

The lack of offense has put even more pressure on the pitching, but the Royals have been up to the task. Starter Michael Wacha allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings Friday despite laboring early, allowing six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

“The bottom line is, we have to figure out how to come through in those situations at some point,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.