When the Giants were struggling in April and early May, Bob Melvin generally tried to keep it positive. The new manager has for most of the year felt that much better days are ahead, believing that his players will start to more closely resemble the backs of their baseball cards. Asked why, Melvin always mentions their long track records.
But there is only so much bad baseball that someone who has been around as long as Melvin can watch, and after a rough 8-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday at Chase Field, he let the frustration out.
"That was a terrible game by us, especially the early portion of the game," Melvin told reporters in Phoenix. "When you're going through losing streaks, at least you fight. For the most part, we have. That was an awful game. We made it interesting at the end but didn't play well. We made [Kyle Harrison] get multiple [extra] outs, had [their] starter on the ropes every inning and couldn't cash in. That's a bad game and a bad stretch by us."
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The loss was the sixth straight by the Giants, their longest skid since last September. It was one that very easily could have gone the other way with cleaner baseball while Harrison was still in the game.
Casey Schmitt misplayed a couple of balls to short in a three-run third inning and later added another error on a rough overall night for the infield defense. Harrison was charged with four runs in six innings and left trailing because the Giants couldn't muster anything against lefty Blake Walston, who was making his second big league start.
Walston struggled with his command, walking four and hitting two. The Giants got the leadoff runner on in all five of his innings but managed just two runs.
San Francisco Giants
Find the latest San Francisco Giants news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
"We made him work and got into situations where we're in the driver's seat, and then we let him off the hook," Melvin said. "The at-bat qualities were good leading up to where we really needed a good at-bat."
Melvin said it looked like his team was "running around in quicksand for a while," and by the time the Giants got going, it was too late. They stranded eight runners before Mike Yastrzemski hit a three-run homer in the eighth, but in the bottom of the seventh, Luke Jackson gave up four runs, raising his ERA to 6.35 and putting the game out of reach.
"That was a terrible game," Harrison told reporters in Phoenix. "We've got to figure out a way to win those and stay in it."
Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast