Veteran left-hander Alex Wood gets the start Tuesday night as the San Francisco Giants try to halt +a five-game losing streak as they face the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
Wood (5-7, 5.03 ERA) is 7-4 with a 3.33 ERA in 24 career appearances, including 16 starts, against Arizona.
He lost each of his past two starts, including a 3-2 home setback to Detroit on Wednesday. Wood yielded three runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings against the Tigers, including a two-run homer to Eric Haase that broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth.
San Francisco has gone just 3-11 over its past 14 games and dropped the series opener to the Diamondbacks 8-3 on Monday afternoon.
Afterward, Giants starter Carlos Rodon didn’t mince any words about his team’s play.
“I think something needs to change,” Rodon said. “I think we’re playing really bad baseball.”
What needs to change?
“I don’t know man,” Rodon replied. “Play with a little more fire. … I don’t know.”
San Francisco set a franchise record with 107 regular-season wins in 2021 when it edged the Los Angeles Dodgers by one game to win the National League West. But the Monday loss, which featured two more errors to give the Giants seven over the past five games, dropped San Francisco to just two games over .500 with the midway point of the season coming later this week.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Rodon said. “I think all of us would like to play better and see different results.
“Sometimes I tend to voice some frustration. Sometimes we need it and sometimes we don’t, but I think right now something has to change.”
San Francisco is expected to get a boost with the likely return of four-time Gold Glove winning shortstop Brandon Crawford from the injured list. Crawford, a three-time All-Star who is batting .224 with five homers and 30 RBIs, has missed the past eight games due to left knee inflammation.
“I’m not going to say 100 percent but I think it’s very likely that Crawford’s in the lineup for us (Tuesday),” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said.
Kapler, the reigning National League manager of the year, believes his team’s fortunes “have a chance to turn very quickly.”
“They only have that chance if we’re very diligent about our work each day, that we don’t get too high or too low,” Kapler said. “This has been a really rough stretch. I think we’ve gotten our ass kicked quite a bit. But we’re still in a position where we can play much better baseball and do so very quickly if we come to work every day and we’re focused about our work and our energy levels are high. So that’s what we’re going to stay focused on.”
Arizona bounced back from a bitter 6-5 defeat at Colorado on Sunday to snap a two-game losing streak. Daulton Varsho led the way against the Giants with three hits, a stolen base and three RBIs.
“Sometimes you’re going to find some holes,” Varsho said. “It was just a really good day for myself.”
With Zach Davies on the 15-day injured list due to right shoulder information, the Diamondbacks will recall left-hander Tyler Gilbert from the minors to make his fourth start of the season on Tuesday. Gilbert (0-3, 7.88 ERA) is 0-1 with a 0.00 ERA in two career appearances against the Giants, both in relief last year.
In his most recent major league appearance, Gilbert allowed seven runs (six earned) on five hits in 1 2/3 innings against the Cincinnati Reds on June 7. He is 4-4 with a 7.57 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) for Triple-A Reno this year.
–Field Level Media
