Giants drop fourth straight, fall season-worst 17 below .500 in loss to Royals
KANSAS CITY — With their place in the standings at this point in the season, all that really matters for the Giants is how other teams value their potential trade candidates.All things considered, Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Royals was a mixed bag.Tyler Mahle, potentially making one of his last starts for the team he signed with last winter, was solid but unspectacular and far from efficient.He threw 91 pitches and departed without recording an out in the sixth inning, surrendering three runs to raise his ERA to 5.31.The performance likely didn’t do much to change how teams view him.
A veteran set to be a free agent again this winter probably won’t be making any postseason starts, no matter what uniform he’s wearing, but he could still be a buy-low option to boost a team’s pitching depth.Mahle employed the Giants pitching staff’s special combo to begin the sixth — a walk to Isaac Collins to lead off the inning, followed by a hit-by-pitch of Salvador Perez — and handed off the jam to another pitcher who could be of interest to teams in need of left-handed bullpen help.Sam Hentges, however, didn’t help the situation.He fell behind on Vinnie Pasquantino, who laced a grounder up the middle to tie the game.
Hentges hit another batter, loading the bases, and manager Tony Vitello decided he’d seen enough, calling on Keaton Winn.Winn, a less likely trade candidate, got two strikes on Nick Loftin and threw him a sinker well below the zone.The pitch got the intended result — a swing and a ground ball — but it was struck well enough and in the right place, out of the reach of either Casey Schmitt or Willy Adames, that it scooted into left field and allowed the Royals to take a 3-2 lead.Both of the base runners put on Mahle and inherited by Hentges came around to score.Less than two weeks to go until the Aug.
3 deadline, possibly the best thing the Giants did to help maintain the value of any of their trade chips’ came in Vitello’s lineup decision...