Giants walked off in heartbreaking fashion by Royals for 58th loss in 100 games

KANSAS CITY — It has seemingly been impossible for the Giants to get all three phases of their game working at the same time, a problem that played out for the umpteenth time on an obscenely hot and humid Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.Not only did San Francisco play a generally clean and crisp game defensively, they got a sensational outfield assist from Drew Gilbert.And while Trevor McDonald departed with an apparent injury after the fourth, their much-maligned bullpen kept the score within reach.The issue in a 4-3 loss to the Royals, one of only four clubs with a worse record, was that the offense never quite got there.

A game-tying two-run home run from Willy Adames with two outs in the ninth inning was only their sixth hit of the night, providing their only runs besides another solo shot from Heliot Ramos, and only served to set them up for more heartbreak.Entering a tied game in the bottom of the ninth, Caleb Kilian allowed a hit to the first batter he faced, Daniel Susac made a failed attempt to throw out the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt despite Adames not covering second base, and Bryce Eldridge made another questionable decision to field a safety squeeze that was on its way foul.As the ball dribbled away, Josh Rojas raced home to score the winning run.McDonald’s last act before summoning the training staff was serving up a three-spot in the fourth that started with his second hit-by-pitch of the game.Salvador Perez immediately made him pay, launching a 440-foot two-run shot to center, and the Royals kept on going with another pair of base hits to make it a three-run inning.McDonald also walked two batters and yielded four hits in his four innings.

Another walk and hit batter got him in trouble in the second, loading the bases with nobody out after the leadoff man, Lane Thomas, lined a basehit off Willy Adames’ glove at shortstop.Manager Tony Vitello spent a portion of the pregame catching up with Thomas, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, who wo...