Giants latest bullpen implosion undoes Alex Wood’s effort, losing streak reaches 6

Alex Wood gave the Giants five excellent innings, but the bullpen and offense were unable to do enough to end their losing streak.

The Giants were unable to end their five-game losing streak on Tuesday, falling to the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-2 despite a great start from Alex Wood. The Giants middling offense barely built any rallies and their inconsistent bullpen reared its ugly head once again.

Brandon Crawford got the scoring started, doubling in Austin Slater in the top of the fourth inning to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. Geraldo Perdomo evened the score by singling in Carson Kelly in the bottom of the fifth, handing Wood the only run he allowed on the evening.

Arizona’s lineup made a decent amount of solid contact against Wood, but the southpaw’s .340 BABIP entering play appeared to be regressing to the mean. He allowed four hits and four strikeouts over five innings.

Wood only needed 75 pitches to get through five innings, but manager Gabe Kapler opted to turn to the bullpen. Wood’s struggles the third time through the order have been well documented at this point and it seemed as if Kapler was leaning into the “numbers” amidst the losing streak. However, Kapler revealed after the game that Wood was dealing with a cramp in his hamstring.

Yermín Mercedes worked a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh inning and advanced to second base on a passed ball. With two outs and Mercedes still in scoring position, Austin Wynns popped a two-strike pitch down the left-field line that Cooper Hummell was unable to corral in a sliding catch. After a replay review determined Wynns’ hit was fair, Mercedes was allowed to cross home plate, and the Giants took a 2-1 lead.

Now working with a tight lead, Kapler turned to Tyler Rogers. Rogers has been far from the dominant force he was last season, but he worked around a one-out double and some other hard contact to complete a shutout inning.

Dominic Leone, though, would not get the same batted-ball luck as his Giants counterparts. He surrendered back-to-back singles to start the eighth inning, and a wild pitch that Wynns came centimeters away from blocking allowed the Diamondbacks to score the tying run.

After walking Ketel Marte and Christian Walker, Leone was replaced by Camilo Doval with the bases loaded and one out. Doval got two outs, but not before the damage was done. Buddy Kennedy drove a fly ball deep enough to drive in Hummell and put Arizona ahead. Then Daulton Varsho cleared the bases with a three-run homer that put the game out of reach.

The Giants are now just one game above .500, sitting at 40-39. They have lost six straight and 12 of their last 14 games. They will try to avoid being swept by the 37-44 Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

In another developing Giants story, rookie David Villar played in his second career MLB game. Unfortunately, it did not go quite as well as his first. Villar worked a walk but committed a fielding error and bobbled another groundball hit his way. Villar, who developed primarily at the hot corner, has always looked like an average or better defender but struggled with inconsistency that has usually led to a high volume of errors. Hopefully, he is able to clean that up soon.