Melvin calls out SF Giants for ‘instructional league’ play after third straight shutout loss

SAN FRANCISCO — On the third night in row the Giants were kept off the scoreboard, their offense wasn’t even the biggest issue in the eye of manager Bob Melvin.

“It’s the big leagues, but it looks like instructional league at times,” Melvin said Saturday night after his team’s third shutout loss in a row, 8-0, to the Padres.

The skipper felt the need to address his team in the clubhouse postgame after their offensive ineptitude leaked into other facets of the game. Their middle infielders were out of position for a relay to the plate, their All-Star outfielder lobbed a throw in with so little on it another runner advanced into scoring position, and their pitchers walked nearly as many batters as they struck out while allowing the Padres to pound out 17 hits.

“We only made one error, but it didn’t look like it,” Melvin said. “We were out of position too much. We didn’t get good breaks on balls. It’s sloppy.”

Last weekend, when they took two of three from the same foe, felt like a distant memory.

“It almost feels like it’s cratering here,” Melvin said. “There are only a couple weeks left in the season and we’ve got too much at stake, we’ve accomplished too much — even though it’s been disappointing as a whole — but we’ve accomplished too much to just start playing baseball like this.”

The loss was so ugly that it ended in Donovan Walton, a position player, on the mound for the Giants, which so happened to be the last situation in which they scored a run, in the eighth inning of their only win this home stand, Wednesday night against the Brewers.

They have failed to score in 27 straight innings, one of only four times since the team moved to San Francisco that it has been shut out three games in a row and the first time since June 23-25, 1992.

“I feel like every team struggles, but not this bad,” said Heliot Ramos, who contributed one of their five hits but also was central to their defensive miscues.

Indeed, the Giants became only the 25th team leaguewide since the turn of the century to go three games without scoring a run, not seen since the Reds last July. Ramos singled and reached third in the ninth inning but was stranded there when LaMonte Wade Jr. flew out to end the game.

Sputtering their way to a third consecutive shutout, the Giants struck out 10 more times, their 65th game this year with double-digits punchouts, and the issue has only gotten worse as the season progressed.

They’ve racked up 38 of those strikeout bonanzas in 66 games since the start of July after finishing only 27 of their first 85 games with double digits in the Ks column. Falling to 4-8 in September, only the lowly Rockies (32.2%) have ended a larger share of their plate appearances with strike three than the Giants (29.8%) since entering the final month of the season.

Facing Joe Musgrove last weekend, six of the Giants’ first 10 batters struck out before jumping on him for seven runs in the fourth inning. The same second life never arrived in their rematch a week later, as Musgrove fanned eight over six shutout innings a night after Dylan Cease racked up 10 strikeouts over six shutout innings.

“We had a really good plan against Musgrove last time,” Melvin said. “Tried to take the same plan into today and just got it handed to us.”

Ramos also pointed to the Giants’ offensive game plan and their opponents’ adjustments to it. They beat Cease last weekend, too, getting to him for four runs on six hits while striking out only four times.

“Not taking credit away from them, but we’ve seen what we can do against them last week,” Ramos said. “They changed their plan and it worked. It’s time for us to adjust to that.”

It was also a rematch for Mason Black, the Giants’ starter, who fared better than he did last weekend in San Diego but found himself in an early hole after the Giants botched a routine relay that allowed the Padres to open a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Jurickson Profar was able to score from first when Manny Machado lined a double off the wall in center field, but he was only sent home when Ramos threw the ball in to second base, where nobody was standing as both shortstop Brett Wisely and second baseman Marco Luciano were at various depths in the outfield grass.

Wisely was the cutoff man for the play but ended up having to chase down the ball when it missed him and made it all the way to second base, which was unoccupied as Luciano had ventured even deeper into the outfield grass to cut of a potential throw to third base.

“When you’re not in position on relays like we weren’t in the first inning, it looks really bad at the big-league level,” Melvin said. “We’ve got some guys playing out of position — Wisely’s not a shortstop, even though he’s played good shortstop this year; Luci’s learning the position at second base — but still, that’s not major-league quality what we did tonight.”

Ramos and Melvin confirmed that he should have hit the cutoff man, who would have either had a play at the plate or prevented Profar from attempting to score entirely.

“I mean, the cutoff man is supposed to be right there,” Ramos said. “I just threw the ball wherever I’m supposed to throw it.”

Again, in the sixth inning, Ramos had trouble getting the ball cleanly into the infield when Machado lined a single up the middle with the bases loaded. The hit drove in a pair of runs to extend San Diego’s lead to 5-0, and Machado was able to take second base when Ramos lobbed the ball to no one in particular.

Third baseman Matt Chapman had to chase it down near the pitcher’s mound as Machado jogged into second base.

“I messed up today with that throw,” Ramos said. “I can say that it slipped out of my hand, but at the same time I have to handle it, try to hit him in chest or at least on one bounce to him.”

While Melvin did call a team meeting, he didn’t call out their effort level despite their listless play the past three nights.

“It never looks like (we’re playing hard) when you don’t hit, when you get shutout three times in a row, it doesn’t look that way,” he said. “It feels like it’s more focus. Guys are running hard down the line. They’re preparing for the game. It just looks awful when you’re not hitting and you’re playing awful defense.”

Notable

RHP Jordan Hicks (shoulder) was activated from the 15-day injured list and entered the game in the seventh inning, allowing three runs on four hits and one walk over 1⅔ innings in his first appearance since August 24. RHP Austin Warren optioned to Triple-A Sacramento in a corresponding move. … OF Grant McCray was feeling better a day after crashing awkwardly into the center field … SS Tyler Fitzgerald (back) will likely get one more day off Sunday before returning to the lineup when the Giants begin their final road trip of the season Tuesday in Baltimore.

Up next

The Giants wrap up their penultimate home stand of the season with RHP Landen Roupp (0-1, 3.44) on the mound against LHP Martín Pérez (4-5, 4.46). Before the 1:05 p.m. first pitch, Juan Marichal, Dusty Baker, Barry Bonds and Tony Oliva are scheduled to speak at the celebration of life for Orlando Cepeda. Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 12:30 p.m.