SAN FRANCISCO - An important month of June got off to a poor start for the Phillies on Friday night. They were shut out, 4-0, by the San Francisco Giants, currently the only sub-.500 team the Phils will play during the month.
Phillies hitters set a dubious club record in the game. They struck out 13 times. It was the sixth straight game that Phillies hitters had struck out 10 or more times, a franchise record.
The Phillies entered the game with 523 strikeouts, fourth most in the majors.
The Phillies mustered just four hits, all singles, in the first eight innings.
The Phillies threatened in the ninth, putting runners on second and third with no outs against Hunter Strickland. The Giants' right-hander came back with three quick outs to end it and preserve the shutout.
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San Francisco starting pitcher Chris Stratton (7-3) pitched six shutout innings and held the Phillies to four singles, including debuting rookie Dylan Cozens' first big-league hit. Stratton walked just one and struck out seven. Three weeks earlier, the Phillies had hit Stratton hard in an 11-3 win at Citizens Bank Park. He gave up five hits, five runs and walked four in 4 2/3 innings in that game.
Phillies starter Nick Pivetta (4-4) entered the game with a 1.13 ERA in his previous four starts, but he did not pitch well in this one. He lasted just four innings, allowed nine base runners and three runs.
Pivetta allowed single runs in the first, second and fourth. Twice he was burned by defensive shifts. In the first inning, Evan Longoria capitalized on shifting second baseman Cesar Hernandez for a two-out RBI single. In the fourth, Brandon Crawford was awarded a leadoff double on a pop up behind third base. The ball likely would have been caught by shortstop Scott Kingery if he had not been shifted behind the second base bag. Crawford eventually scored the Giants' third run.
Defense came into the spotlight again in the seventh when neither Odubel Herrera nor Nick Williams could make a play on a catchable ball to left-center by Andrew McCutchen. The ball dropped in for a triple and McCutchen scored on a wild pitch by Hector Neris, who threw three of them in the inning.
Notes
• The Giants announced that rookie Dereck Rodriguez would make his first big-league start Sunday. He will face Jake Arrieta in the series finale. Rodriguez is the son of Hall of Fame catcher Pudge Rodriguez.
