KANSAS CITY — It has seemingly been impossible for the Giants to get all three phases of their game working at the same time, a problem that played out for the umpteenth time on an obscenely hot and humid Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Not only did San Francisco play a generally clean and crisp game defensively, they got a sensational outfield assist from Drew Gilbert. And while Trevor McDonald departed with an apparent injury after the fourth, their much-maligned bullpen kept the score within reach.
The issue in a 4-3 loss to the Royals, one of only four clubs with a worse record, was that the offense never quite got there. A game-tying two-run home run from Willy Adames with two outs in the ninth inning was only their sixth hit of the night, providing their only runs besides another solo shot from Heliot Ramos, and only served to set them up for more heartbreak.
Entering a tied game in the bottom of the ninth, Caleb Kilian allowed a hit to the first batter he faced, Daniel Susac made a failed attempt to throw out the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt despite Adames not covering second base, and Bryce Eldridge made another questionable decision to field a safety squeeze that was on its way foul.
As the ball dribbled away, Josh Rojas raced home to score the winning run.
Trevor McDonald Roughed Up
McDonald’s last act before summoning the training staff was serving up a three-spot in the fourth that started with his second hit-by-pitch of the game. Salvador Perez immediately made him pay, launching a 440-foot two-run shot to center, and the Royals kept on going with another pair of base hits to make it a three-run inning.
McDonald also walked two batters and yielded four hits in his four innings. Another walk and hit batter got him in trouble in the second, loading the bases with nobody out after the leadoff man, Lane Thomas, lined a basehit off Willy Adames’ glove at shortstop.
Manager Tony Vitello spent a portion of the pregame catching up with Thomas, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, who would hang around the Volunteers’ program.
A short while later, another Volunteer — Gilbert — threw him out with a seed to catcher Daniel Susac, who laid the tag on Thomas to complete the 8-2 double play. The throw turned a bases-loaded jam into an easy-to-escape two-out situation and kept the game scoreless.
Heliot Ramos put the Giants ahead 1-0 in the top of the fourth with an opposite-field jack that landed only 10 feet shy of Perez’s (430 feet). For the third game in a row, the Giants took a lead but failed to add on and eventually let it slip away, never to be reclaimed again.
But a pair of hits from Daniel Susac and a couple scattered singles from Rafael Devers and Jung Hoo Lee was all the rest the feeble Giants lineup was able to muster against All-Star Michael Wacha, who went six innings, and a trio Kansas City relievers.
Susac doubled to lead off the eighth against Daniel Lynch IV and reached third with one out but was stranded there after Bryce Eldridge went down swinging for the third time and Josh Rojas gave Casey Schmitt a dose of his own medicine. Schmitt slammed his helmet after the Royals third baseman made a diving stab at a 101 mph line drive down the line for the third out.
The lead was lost in the bottom of the fourth, and McDonald left the game before another Royal came to bat. At 67 pitches, he took the mound to warm up for the fifth but walked back to the dugout under the supervision of a trainer before he threw another pitch.
The Giants did not provide an immediate update on the nature of his injury.
What it means
There are officially 100 games down, 62 to go in what is shaping up to be one of the worst seasons in the Giants’ history, before or after their move to San Francisco.
At 42-58, they are one of only 10 in the 143-year history of the franchise with as many losses at the 100-game milepost. The 16 games below .500 matches a season-worst.
They’ll need to win Tuesday to avoid falling further below .500 than any point since the end of the 2017 season, which produced the Giants’ second-worst finish in their West Coast era.
Who’s hot
Blink, and you might miss it.
A day after the less-than-fleet-footed Bryce Eldridge swiped second base — his first career stolen base — catcher Daniel Susac kicked it into gear, too. Unlike Eldridge, the catcher drew a throw on his stolen base attempt and dove headfirst ahead of the tag for his second steal.
The Giants, who began Sunday’s game tied for third-fewest steals in the majors, intended to be more aggressive on the base paths, and that apparently includes two of their slowest runners.
Susac’s successful steal was the Giants’ 12th in the month of July without being thrown out.
In 15 games, they have matched their most stolen bases of any previous month, when they went 12-for-18 across 26 games in June. They had been 27-for-39 when July began.
Who’s not
After a strong series in Seattle, Eldridge had a rough go of it Monday night.
He drew a walk to reach base for a sixth straight game in his first time up but struck out his next three times to plate.
Still, none of the strikeouts came easy: The rookie saw 19 total pitches over the three at-bats.
Up next
The Giants resume their series against the Royals with the second of a three-game set Tuesday (4:40 p.m. PT). Tyler Mahle will make his first start of the second half against Luinder Avila.
