In fitting fashion, Giants leave the tying run on base in the ninth inning

For the second day in a row, a very good San Francisco Giants pitcher did not have it in the first inning. And for the second day in a row, the Giants held the Los Angeles Dodgers in check for the rest of the game. And for the second day in a row, the Giants offense just could not find The Hit™, and they lost to the Dodgers. This time it was 3-1.

On Tuesday it was the Giants ace, Kevin Gausman, who got into some early hot water. Gausman couldn’t locate the strike zone in the first inning, and loaded the bases via a pair of walks and a hit batter. He did an outstanding job finding his pitches in time to strike out Will Smith, but Chris Taylor ruined the party — I imagine Chris Taylor ruins a lot of parties — by doinking one the other way for a two-run double.

In honor of Taylor ruining the party, I present to you this stat.

That came after the Giants went 0-13 with runners in scoring position during Monday’s 3-2 loss. Just a remarkable string of bucking the trends and expectations with runners in scoring position, on both sides of things.

Naturally the Giants repeated their RISP woes on Tuesday, going 0-6. If math isn’t your strong suit, I’m here to put those numbers together for you and tell you that they went 0-19 with runners in scoring position in this series.

That is not particularly great.

But unlike in the series opener, there were no dingers by the Giants in the series finale. Instead, they needed a double by Steven Duggar to score a run from first because, again, they don’t get hits with runners in scoring position.

Well that’s fun at least.

The Giants again threatened in the ninth inning, and you, smart Giants fan that you are, learned from your foolish optimism on Monday and decided that the Giants would not be scoring any runs so don’t get your hopes up.

Smart fans, those Giants fans. Some of the smartest in the world.

Anyway, Kenley Jansen hit Alex Dickerson with the first pitch of the inning and then walked Buster Posey on five pitches, and then threw three straight balls to Brandon Crawford, and then suddenly remembered that he’s one of the best relievers in baseball and struck out Crawford, popped up Wilmer Flores, and struck out Duggar.

And the fun was over, because it never began.

A few other notes from the game:

If you’re wondering how the Dodgers scored their third run ... do you really have to wonder? Max Muncy hit a home run. Because of course he did. And with that, Muncy now has 7 home runs in 34 plate appearances against the Giants this season, compared to 10 home runs in 239 plate appearances against everyone else.

Lovely.

Mike Tauchman made another awesome catch against the Dodgers. That’s the good news.

Tauchman also left the game afterwards due to a knee contusion, and will receive an MRI on Wednesday. That’s the bad news.

Tauchman replaced Mike Yastrzemski in right field after Yaz suffered a contusion on Monday. That’s the worse news (but Yaz is expected back this week).

The Giants bullpen of José Álvarez, Zack Littell, and John Brebbia did not allow a baserunner. So that’s good at least.

In conclusion

The Giants lost 3-1 but still are 1.5 games ahead of the Dodgers.

So ... /blows raspberries in the Dodgers general direction ... yeah. Take that. Or something.