SAN FRANCISCO - Gabe Kapler was succinct after this one.
"Not our best game overall," he said.
No, it wasn't. The Phillies absorbed a 4-0 shutout at the hands of the San Francisco Giants on Friday night (see first take). The litany of things that went wrong included:
• Thirteen strikeouts by the offense.
• Two catchable balls falling in the outfield for extra-base hits that became runs.
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• Starting pitcher Nick Pivetta lasted just four innings and issued a pair of leadoff walks that became runs.
• Three wild pitches by Hector Neris in one inning.
• Zero hits in six chances with a runner in scoring position.
The Phillies are just 2-4 over their last six games. Their hitters have reached double digits in strikeouts in each of those games. That is a new club record. Over that span, Phillies hitters have drawn just 14 walks and averaged just 2.8 runs.
Three weeks ago, the Phils reached Giants right-hander Chris Stratton for five hits, four walks and five runs in 4 2/3 innings in an 11-3 win at Citizens Bank Park. Friday night, Stratton held the Phillies to four singles over six scoreless innings. He walked one and struck out seven.
The Phillies got the first two runners on base in the ninth inning but got nothing as Hunter Strickland ended the game with three quick outs.
"This wasn't a good offensive night for us," Kapler said. "It's probably less about the strikeouts and more about the fact that we're not squaring the baseball up very consistently over the last week or 10 days. I think we can do a better job at the end of at-bats of putting the ball in play. I don't think that's disputable. But I think at the end of the day, it's just about getting on base and we're probably not doing enough of that right now.
"The only way we can say that the strikeouts are not a negative is if at the end of those strikeouts, at the end of those long counts, we're hitting a home run or drawing a walk. We're not seeing that come together recently. It's just a small stretch of that happening. I'm not concerned about it long term but there's no disputing that recently the performance at the plate has not been optimal."
The defense was not particularly strong, either. Brandon Crawford was awarded a double on a pop up that dropped between third baseman Maikel Franco and leftfielder Nick Williams in the fourth inning. Backpedaling Franco could not pick it up in the sky and Williams made a good effort after a long run. Shortstop Scott Kingery would have had the best angle on the ball, but he was shifted way right on Crawford. In the seventh, centerfielder Odubel Herrera overran a ball in left-center and it fell for a triple. Herrera had been playing well to the right-field side of second base and had to run a long way.
"Those balls need to be caught," Kapler said. "You can't give teams extra outs. I don't think it's about being in the shift or not being in the shift."
The Giants capitalized on a defensive shift for a run in the first inning when Evan Longoria singled through the second base spot.
"Those things happen," Pivetta said. "Sometimes the shift works. Sometimes it doesn't.
"Way too many three-ball counts on my part. I got behind too many hitters. Pretty disappointing outing from my standpoint."
All in all, not the way the Phillies wanted to start a challenging month of June. As it stands right now, the Giants are the only sub.-500 team that the Phils will face during the month. The Phils face rookie pitchers on Saturday and Sunday. They need to get the offense going and make some hay.
