WEST SACRAMENTO — The Giants flew out of Phoenix with much-needed good vibes. Camilo Doval redeemed himself on Wednesday, and Robbie Ray shined on Thursday. They salvaged a split of their four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, arriving at Sutter Health Park with a chance to win three in a row for the first time in weeks.
They instead played their most embarrassing game of the season.
Justin Verlander, two decades after making his major-league debut, turned in his worst start of the year, allowing a season-high six runs over three innings. The defense made three errors. The offense was silenced. The result for San Francisco was an 11-2 loss to the Athletics on the Fourth of July, a night that ended with fireworks in the sky and Verlander still searching for his first win as a Giant.
Verlander, who is now 0-6 with a 4.84 ERA over 14 starts, will have one more chance to get his first win of the season before the All-Star Break. That start will likely be at Oracle Park against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who also suffered their own humiliating defeat: an 18-1 blowout at the hands of the Houston Astros on Friday.
By the bottom of the seventh, with the Giants trailing by 11 runs, manager Bob Melvin began emptying his bench. Brett Wisely entered the game for Willy Adames and later hit a solo homer. In the top of the eighth, backup catcher Andrew Knizner pinch-hit for Rafael Devers.
In the bottom of the first, left fielder Heliot Ramos was charged with an error after fumbling a transfer on Brent Rooker’s single, allowing Rooker to advance to second base.
Ramos mishandled another transfer in the bottom of the second on Tyler Soderstrom’s base hit to left field. Ramos may have had a chance to throw out Soderstrom at second if he fielded the ball cleanly, but Soderstrom slid in safely at second base with plenty of time due to Ramos’ fumble.
The Giants had two more poor defensive sequences in the bottom of the fourth.
Third baseman Sergio Alcántara, making his first appearance for the Giants this year, muffed a chopper to his left, allowing Jacob Wilson to reach first. Catcher Patrick Bailey was unable to catch a popup in foul territory two batters later, though it was a tough play since he didn’t immediately know where the ball went.
San Francisco’s shoddy defense continued in the bottom of the sixth inning when center fielder Jung Hoo Lee got turned around on a deep drive by Denzel Clarke. Instead of securing the fly ball at the warning track, Lee dropped the ball, and Clarke sped his way into third with a triple.
With San Francisco playing the infield in, Lawrence Butler ripped a single to center field to drive in Clarke and expand the Giants’ deficit to 7-0.
In the bottom of the seventh, Wisely, who took over at third base, couldn’t corral a short hop off the bat of Zack Gelof and was charged with an error.
The last time the Giants won three straight games was when they captured seven straight from June 4-11. San Francisco has gone 7-14 since that streak.