SAN FRANCISCO – They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, and that’s no different for one video that captured the Giants dugout just after their 1-0 shutout loss to the San Diego Padres on Monday night.
Just as Jerar Encarnación lined out to first to end the game in the 10th inning, the NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast caught Patrick Bailey, Heliot Ramos and Matt Chapman’s visible frustrations on camera. No words were said – or heard, at least – but none had to be.
The vibe was understood.
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SIGN UP HERE Giants manager Bob Melvin didn’t hold back the truth while disclosing the frustration level in the clubhouse.
“Yeah, we’ve been frustrated for a while,” Melvin said, “but the combination of hitting some balls hard and then having nothing to show for it, when we were up against it, against a really good bullpen late in the game to have our best at-bats.
“So that just kind of adds to the frustration.”
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The Giants had plenty of opportunities to do some damage, including a bases-loaded no-outs chance in the second, but finished the game 1-12 with RISP. They now are 6-57 with RISP over the last nine games.
San Francisco also has scored four runs or fewer in 15 consecutive games, their longest streak since 1965.
It took less than one minute into Bailey’s postgame media availability to utter the word “frustrating” to reporters. He applauded Logan Webb’s eight shutout innings and knows the offense has to do a better job backing the recent stellar pitching.
“I thought we competed at the end there,” Bailey said. “Obviously it’s frustrating that the big boys go out on the mound and complete like that. Thankfully they’ve kept us in the games and I know we’re going to step it up eventually. Obviously we hit a lot of balls hard off one of the best pitchers in the game. And it just doesn’t go our way.
“But we got to be better for sure.”
After blowing three bases-loaded opportunities, the Giants had one final chance in the bottom of the 10th to at least tie it up and force an 11th after Christian Koss did his job with a sacrifice bunt that moved Jung Hoo Lee to third.
Matt Chapman nearly got the job done when his hard-hit grounder to third was met with an impressive defensive play by Padres infielder Jose Iglesias. Then Encarnación, making his season debut, had the chance to play hero. The final chance.
Encarnación cracked one right into the glove of Padres first baseman Luis Arraez to end the ballgame.
“The last couple innings were probably our best at-bats throughout the course of the game,” Melvin said. “We had some opportunities early on and that ended up biting us that we couldn’t push one across. We had bases loaded a couple times, we left 12 on base.
“But I thought our bats were good and a little unlucky in the last inning. We hit two balls that hard.”
Webb, who lowered his ERA to 2.55, tossed another gem Monday night, pitching eight shutout innings with seven strikeouts. He has given up three earned runs or fewer in each of his 13 starts this season.
Even after pitching another masterclass with nothing to show for it, Webb, per usual, was in good spirits in the clubhouse. The guy who probably should have been the most frustrated wasn't panicking, and despite the Giants' recent funk, Webb's belief in his team hasn't wavered.
"This is a hard game," Webb said. "Baseball's a game of ebbs and flows, some of the best teams in history have gone through stretches where they have struggles like this. But everyone in this room believes in ourselves and I think we're going to be just fine. It's the beginning of June, we got four months of baseball left. We really love our guys in here and we're a really united team. We're going to be fine.
"We play 162 of these. No other sport plays as many games as we do, you're going to go through stretches where I struggle, but honestly, I think those things make your team closer. We're going to be just fine. I know it. Everyone in here knows it. You just got to keep grinding."
When asked where this stretch compares to other rough patches he's been a part of in his career, Webb offered a unique perspective.
"I can tell you right now there's been a lot lower points that I've gone through in the past couple of seasons," he said. "This is not a low point. It's June 2. We have a lot of baseball to play. I do think there's a belief in this group and this team, it started on the first day of spring training. I've been very outspoken about that. This is just part of baseball. You go through stretches where pitching might not be great, defense might not be great, offense. But it's getting through those things.
"You hope it's three or four days, and sometimes it lasts a little longer, but at the end of the day, all we have in this clubhouse is each other and we really believe in this group that we have. We just have to keep our heads up and try to battle. This is a great opportunity for us, we have four games against one of the best teams in baseball. We get to come back tomorrow and try to beat them again."