Giants continue streak of not scoring enough runs to win

So here’s the deal: the San Francisco Giants lost. They played a team that had lost eight games in a row — including three against the Giants — and what did they Giants do? They looked like butter-covered nincompoops for the better part of two-and-a-half hours, before finally accessing their baseball skills in the ninth inning.

In fairness, those ninth-inning baseball skills were entertaining. It started with a bullet off the bat of Brandon Belt — who is staying red hot — that Tommy La Stella Tim Locastro bobbled about as many times as when you drop an egg and try to catch it on its rapid descent. Belt looked like he wanted a single, and seemed reluctant to shift out of first gear, but Locastro was hellbent on forcing his adversary into a triple, and Belt finally arrived standing at third, looking at Ron Wotus with a facial expression that clearly said, doesn’t this guy know Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives is about to start?

Belt would score on a loud double off the bat of Wilmer Flores, who would score on the third home run of the season by Brandon Crawford.

Without context, that hard-hitting, three-run ninth inning sure was great!

But with context it just resulted in the Giants loss looking a little less like vomit, as it made the final score a respectable 7-4.

Tyler Anderson’s last start came against the Diamondbacks, and it was brilliant, as he spun the first complete game of his career, while allowing only one unearned run.

Take 2 did not go so well. Anderson was BABIP’d to death, to be sure, but he also simply wasn’t good. He didn’t make it through the fifth inning, and gave up 9 hits, 3 walks, and 7 earned runs, with a hit batter and a wild pitch, just for good measure.

You win some and you lose some. In this case he quite literally lost some.

Evan Longoria did this, which was awesome:

Longoria continues to play very well, which is important, since the Giants don’t really have any other options at third base.

Speaking of people playing well, the bullpen was given the unenviable task of coming into a 7-0 deficit. They didn’t need to pitch well. But it sure was nice that they did, with Caleb Baragar, Sam Selman, and Wandy Peralta combining for 3.1 no-hit innings.

It’s three losses in a row for the Giants, following a seven-game winning streak. But it’s hard to be too invested in the outcome of a sporting event. The events of the last week are still heavy on our mind, with many athletes justifiably having hesitations about returning to play. Friday was Jackie Robinson Day, which is always a reminder of how far we’ve come, but, especially when juxtaposed with the Kenosha shootings, an even stronger reminder of how far we have to go.

And halfway through the game the world was hit with the sad news that Chadwick Boseman — the mesmerizing and brilliant actor who portrayed Robinson in the film “42” — passed away from a battle with colon cancer.

You’re probably sick of me saying it, but some things are bigger than baseball. A lot of things, really.