A dominant start dissolved into a four-game skid after late-inning walks and hit batsmen dismantled the San Francisco Giants.
The San Francisco Giants jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning, but Tyler Mahle allowed two Kansas City Royals to score in the sixth, and that proved to be the difference.
San Francisco lost the game, 3-2, and fell to 42-59 as they've now dropped four in a row. Their offense mustered up just five hits in a performance that manager Tony Vitello would love to soon forget.
Despite allowing a run in the third, Mahle was nearly perfect. He seemed to be in full control and cruising through this game, but he was relieved in the sixth inning, which saw Sam Hentges pick up his second blown save of the season.
After that, this offense failed to get anything going. A sacrifice bunt in the seventh did the team no favors; they couldn't take advantage of a two-out walk in the eighth, and the Royals got away with another free pass in the ninth.
Giants' disastrous sixth inning
Mahle had a pair of six-pitch battles to begin the sixth, but Vitello had seen enough after he walked the first batter and then hit the second.
Hentges allowed a run to score just four pitches into his outing. If that wasn't bad enough, he also hit a batter to load the bases.
Sure, he struck out the next batter, but Vitello had seen enough and pulled him after facing the minimum. Keaton Winn immediately lost a five-pitch battle that broke the 2-2 tie and saw the Royals take the lead. Of course, he was then able to record the final two outs in just four pitches.
Hear from Mahle and Vitello
"I was pitching well until the sixth,” Mahle said, according to MLB.com. “Walked the first guy, which is never good. Then I hit Salvy on a fastball in. It wasn’t like I was making bad pitches. Just walked a guy and hit a guy.”
Overall, Mahle said he's "just trying to pitch better and control what I can control."
Vitello added, "[Mahle] looked good, as he has his last two in particular. Just unfortunate with a couple of free bases to end it. Sam has been pretty good of late getting us out of trouble. That inning was the difference-maker, but for us to get out of there with two runs with how everything transpired was pretty good.”
Now 17 games below .500, the Giants have lost each of their last four games after winning their first game back from the All-Star break in dominant fashion.
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