LOS ANGELES -- Before Tuesday's game, Giants manager Bob Melvin spent much of his time talking about pitching.
The Giants are about a week away from making a decision on Jordan Hicks' immediate future, and they're a day away from Robbie Ray's long-awaited debut in orange and black. As Melvin mentions during just about every session with reporters, Alex Cobb is just about ready to return, too.
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None of it will matter, though, if the Giants can't score. Right now, they absolutely cannot score.
The Giants lost 5-2, wasting another huge game from Tyler Fitzgerald and failing to take advantage of some shaky relieving from the Los Angeles Dodgers late in the game. They are 1-4 on their road trip and dropped to six games under .500 with exactly a week to go until the MLB trade deadline.
In his first start of the second half, Jordan Hicks twice gave up two-run doubles. Gavin Lux got him in the first inning and Shohei Ohtani in the fourth.
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In between, the Giants got yet another homer from Fitzgerald, who has represented their only real shot at offense since the break. He became the first Giants rookie in franchise history to homer in five straight appearances, but the Giants wouldn't score again until the ninth.
Lefty Alex Vesia made a mess of the inning, walking Matt Chapman and Michael Conforto before Fitzgerald's RBI single, but pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores popped up and second baseman Brett Wisely struck out. Slumping right-hander Evan Phillips entered and walked Jorge Soler, putting the tying run on first, but LaMonte Wade Jr. bounced out to second.
Tyler, Meet the GOATs
Fitzgerald jumped on a hanging slider from Landon Knack in the second inning and smoked a no-doubter into the home bullpen, picking up his fourth homer of the road trip and sixth of the year. With a homer in five straight appearances, he joined some pretty impressive company.
He's the first Giant to homer in five straight games since Barry Bonds had a seven-game streak in 2004. Bonds went deep in five straight games on four different occasions in his career, a franchise record. Willie Mays did it twice and Robby Thompson and Jack Clark also did it.
Fitzerald followed the homer with a walk and two singles, raising his OPS to .990 and average to .322.
It's Offensive
After Fitzgerald's homer, the Giants managed just an Heliot Ramos single off Knack, who was making his eighth big league start. They have scored two runs in 10 1/3 innings against two Dodgers rookies in this series, and the sledding won't get any easier with Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw on deck, although they did stun Glasnow the last time they saw him.
The Giants have been held under four runs in each of their last seven games and have just 21 hits over their last five games. You have to go all the way back to June 17 in Chicago to find the last time they scored more than five runs on the road.
Up and Down Night
The good news for Hicks was that his fastball had more bite than it did late in the first half, when he admitted that he was wearing down in his first season as a starter. Hicks topped out at 96 mph and averaged about 95 mph.
The Giants expect Hicks to make one more start before adjusting his role. The arm seems fine, and it shouldn't be a stretch to expect Hicks to get back to approaching or hitting triple-digits when he's again pitching in short bursts.
Hicks has enjoyed starting, though, and he was hopeful that extended breaks this month could allow him to replicate his April results. The Dodgers put four earned on his line in 3 2/3 innings, and Hicks walked five. Two of the walks turned into runs.
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