Melvin on SF Giants: ‘We’re playing terribly.”

May 7, 2024, 8:08 AM

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - MAY 5: Left fielder Michael Conforto #8 of the San Francisco Giants ca...

(Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

Editor & Kings Beat Writer

Expectations were high for the 2024 San Francisco Giants, especially following an offseason of spending by a front office that had struggled to bring in talent in recent years.

The Giants, who dropped $174 million on free agents Jung Hoo Lee, Blake Snell, Jorge Soler, Matt Chapman, and Jordan Hicks, have not met those expectations through 36 games, holding a record of 15-21 entering play on Tuesday night.

San Francisco has struggled over the past week, dropping six of its past seven games—including a four-game sweep at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies—and now sits a season-worst six games below the .500 mark.

The Giants are batting .226 as a team and averaging just 2.8 runs per game during their ongoing four-game skid, while the pitching staff posted an ERA of 6.24 during the series against the Phillies.

San Francisco’s offensive woes have been prevalent for some time. Since April 24th (11 games), the Giants have yet to score more than four runs in a single game, and the single four-run outing took place on May 5th. In that time frame, the offense has struggled to a .210 batting average while averaging just 2.5 runs per contest.

For reference, the Chicago White Sox (2.91) are ranked last in runs per game among MLB leaders, meaning that San Francisco has had the league’s worst offense over the past two weeks.

“We weren’t playing very well … and now we’re playing terribly.”

Melvin on the Giants’ struggles only getting worse pic.twitter.com/pCzBQLxvSl

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 6, 2024

More on the SF Giants

Giants manager Bob Melvin told the media that he addressed his team following Monday’s 6-1 loss to the Phillies–a game that saw San Francisco hitters strikeout a season-high-tying 13 times.

“We got to clean it up. We’ve got to play better,” Melvin said postgame. “We left home, what were we, one game under .500? We weren’t playing very well. I thought that might be a pretty good place for us, being that we hadn’t played well, and now we’re playing terribly. So, we have to clean it up.”

For San Francisco, key contributors must step up to rise out of the hole they have recently dug.

Jung Hoo Lee is batting .217 over his past five games. Matt Chapman is two for his last 20 (.111) at the plate. Jorge Soler, who is dealing with a shoulder issue, is one for his last ten (.100) at the plate.

The Giants will head to Colorado for a series with the Rockies at Coors Field, a destination that has typically seen a lot of offense over the years. Can San Francisco bounce back and stop the bleeding before they fall even further down the National League West standings?