Giants observations: Sean Manaea struggles, departs early in loss to Mets
What we learned as Manaea struggles in Giants' loss to Mets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
SAN FRANCISCO -- There are no must-win games or series in April, but the Giants certainly appear to be in a must-stay-afloat situation right now.
After a wildly disappointing 1-4 road trip, they'll face the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers over the next three weeks. They could potentially be buried in the standings before the second week of May, and the first night back home didn't bring any signs that they were ready to avoid that fate.
The Mets had two big rallies and hit three homers, beating the Giants 9-4 at the start of an important eight-game homestand. The Giants fell to 6-12 on the season and 2-5 at Oracle Park, where they drew just 24,000 fans on a night when one of the sport's most popular teams was in town.
The Giants trailed 5-0 after four and had just a pair of singles off Kodai Senga, a player they coveted in the offseason, but Blake Sabol brought the ballpark back to life in the fifth. Sabol's third homer of the season got the Giants on the board and LaMonte Wade Jr. added a solo shot two batters later.
After a pair of walks, Mike Yastrzemski hit a single up the middle to bring another run home. Michael Conforto made it a four-run inning by bolting home on a wild pitch.
The Mets got a run back right away on Jeff McNeil's solo blast and then tacked on three in the top of the seventh. They rolled to a win from there.
Snapping the Streak
Sean Manaea went hit-by-pitch, homer, flyout, hit-by-pitch, homer, walk, strikeout, double in the fourth before being lifted. He was charged with five earned runs, becoming the first Giants starter since last Sept. 24 to give up more than four. That stat is less impressive than it looks on the surface.
The group has a low ERA overall this season, but Manaea's start was the sixth in 18 games this season that lasted fewer than four innings. In just eight of those 18 games, the starter has recorded more than 15 outs. This team is built around a deep, veteran rotation, and if those guys don't start getting deeper into games, the bullpen is going to gas out over the summer as it did last year.
Welcome to the Bigs, Beck
Tristan Beck is a Stanford alum and a lot of his college friends now live and work in the city, so he had 35 friends sitting a few rows behind the home on-deck circle when he made his big league debut. The line score wasn't great, but the 26-year-old showed flashes of why the Giants were so excited about him this spring.
Beck averaged 95 mph and topped out at 97 in 5 1/3 innings. He got seven swinging strikes on a hard slider. Beck was zooming through the lineup until the seventh, when the Mets opened the frame by putting five straight runners on base. He ended up being charged with four earned on nine hits while striking out five.
Ongoing Issue
The word is out. Use your left-handed relievers against the Giants.
The Mets have just one of them, but Brooks Raley got the sixth and he killed the momentum the lineup built an inning earlier. Raley faced Brandon Crawford, Sabol and Brett Wisely and got through the inning on just eight pitches.
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It was a slick bit of managing by Buck Showalter. The Giants aren't going to hit for Crawford often and they certainly weren't hitting for their catcher after a long road trip for Joey Bart. With two outs, they stuck with Wisely over right-handed options on the bench.
The Giants have now faced a left-handed reliever 23 times this season and scored just twice.
