Dog days continue for SF Giants in 5-3 loss to Padres

The Giants hit some dingers, but a slow start and some bad luck on infield grounders sent them to a two-game sweep at PetCo Park on a “Bark in the Park” day.

It was “Bark in the Park” on Wednesday at PetCo Park, where the San Francisco Giants were dogged by their inability to get hits, retrieve a ball successfully, and handle their sticks in a 5-3 loss to the San Diego Padres. It was a two-game sweep where the Padres were all very good boys.

Elias Diaz homered and scored two runs, while Giants-killer Fernando Tatis, Jr. went 3-for-4 as the Padres finished with 10 hits and two walks, getting runners on in seven of their eight innings. By contrast, the Giants struck out 12 times, including twice in the ninth as Padres closer Robert Suarez slammed the door.

Winning pitcher Michael King (4-1) was extraordinarily stingy in his first five innings of work, yielding just one hit and a walk. After he walked Willy Adames in the first inning, King picked him off first, meaning he faced just one batter over the minimum for those first five innings.

King started to falter in the sixth inning when he hit Tyler Fitzgerald with a pitch and Mike Yastrzemski singled to center. Adames pounded the ball but third baseman Manny Machado robbed the Giants shortstop, making a diving stop and then throwing out Yaz at second from his back.

The Giants did get on the board on a diving non-stop on the next play, when Padres first baseman Luis Arraez laid out to grab a hard-hit ball from Jung Hoo Lee, but couldn’t corral it as Fitzgerald scored from third. King finished with 5.2 IP, 3 hits, one run, one walk and 6 Ks.

For the second start in a row, Landen Roupp gave up a run on a ball that rolled roughly 24 feet. After three straight Padres singles and a walk brought in San Diego’s third run and loaded the bases with one out, Roupp almost escaped the jam when he struck out Xander Bogaerts. But then veteran second baseman Jose Iglesias topped a dribbler down the third base line and Roupp had no play.

At least it was only one run. Last week, the Brewers scored two runs on a sacrifice bunt and an error.

Just a ruff week for Roupp, who was on a short leash, getting pulled for Spencer Bivens after the play. Roupp’s line: 4.1 IP, 7H, 4R, 3 BB, 4K. He now has a 5.10 ERA and has to wonder if Hayden Birdsong is coming for his rotation slot.

Perhaps Roupp’s bad dribbler luck is simply karma from Heliot Ramos turning a swinging bunt into a walk-off Little League home run to win Sunday’s game against the Texas Rangers.

After the Giants narrowed the Padres’ lead to 4-1, San Diego got a run back when a Spencer Bivens cutter didn’t cut enough and Arraez tripled down the first base line to restore their four-run lead.

Ramos answered with a major league home run in the top of the 7th, blasting one into the second deck in left field for his fourth dinger of the season.

Yaz went deep to right for his fifth home run off reliever Jason Adam to make it a 5-3 game in the 8th. Sadly, with Ramos homering to left and Yaz hitting it out to right, the dogs congregating on the grass behind center field were cruelly teased by an unfetchable baseball.

Adames worked an eight-pitch walk off Adam, who then went to 3-0 on Lee before retiring him on a fly to left, featuring a sliding catch by Jason Heyward. After a wild pitch moved Adames to second, Adam struck out Matt Chapman to end the threat.

The Giants did gnaw away at the lead against San Diego’s excellent bullpen and they hit some bombs, but just like my dog Pinot Noir when she was left alone in my parents’ backyard, they simply dug themselves too big of a hole. Now the Giants are one half-game behind the Padres in the NL West and they probably need a bath, too.

But things are looking up! The boys in orange and black are about to start a four-game series against the most hangdog team in major league baseball, the 5-25 Colorado Rockies. They’ve earned this treat.