Tyler Mahle Struggles In Giants Loss

· Yahoo Sports

Entering Friday’s matchup against the Athletics, the San Francisco Giants were coming off a series split against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

 A series in which they looked extremely strong in the first two games before reverting back to the offensive inconsistencies that have plagued them since the start of the season in the final two matchups, ultimately showing in the Giants' 5-2 loss on Friday.

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The Giants would send out Tyler Mahle, who entered the game with a rough season to this point, holding a 1-4 record with a 5.18 ERA. His 11% walk rate has been an issue throughout the year, and despite a respectable 23.1% strikeout rate, the inconsistency has continued to hurt him.

The Athletics would counter with Aaron Civale, who has been extremely effective this season for the A's, posting a 4-1 record with a 2.59 ERA. While ERA can sometimes be a surface-level statistic, Civale has undoubtedly played a major role in helping the Athletics reach first place in the American League West at 22-21.

Mahle looked sharp early in the outing, but the momentum shifted in the bottom of the fifth inning when he surrendered a three-run homer to Nick Kurtz. Mahle would finish the night pitching five innings, allowing 10 hits, five earned runs, one walk, and six strikeouts.

He would also take home the loss, which his current record now stands at 1-5 on the season.

One positive takeaway was his ability to limit walks, an area that has troubled him at times this season. However, the bigger issue remained his inability to consistently miss bats, as the Athletics tallied 10 hits against him.

The fifth inning ultimately proved disastrous, as Mahle allowed four earned runs in the frame alone, including Kurtz’s homer. While his strike percentage was encouraging, throwing 54 strikes on 90 pitches, the ability to attack the zone only matters if the damage can be limited and outs can be generated consistently.

As for the pitch mix, Mahle leaned heavily on the four-seam fastball (38 pitches), cutter (24), and splitter (21). The splitter generated the most swing-and-miss, producing four whiffs on six swings and accounting for two strikeouts.

His four-seam fastball may have been his best overall pitch, generating three strikeouts despite a slight velocity dip to 91.3 mph, down from his season average of 92.4 mph.

Mahle also utilized the cutter frequently, though it generated limited swing-and-miss, producing just two whiffs on 15 swings. He mixed in the slider sparingly, throwing it only seven times throughout the game.

Offensively, the Giants contributed early when Luis Arraez hit his first home run of the season in the fourth inning. Arraez, not known for his power, put the Giants on the board despite recording one of the slowest bat speeds in the game at 64.8 mph.

That has been common throughout his career and is one of the primary reasons he does not generate significant power numbers. Still, Arraez has remained one of the Giants’ most consistent hitters this season, routinely hitting at a high clip and getting on base consistently.

Harrison Bader added to the run support in the fifth inning with a homer of his own, his second since returning to the lineup earlier this week. Bader has provided much-needed production for the bottom half of the lineup, especially during a stretch where the offense has struggled to create consistent scoring opportunities.

While he got off to a slow start this season, he appears to be slowly finding a rhythm offensively.

The Giants turned to the bullpen in the sixth inning, bringing in Sam Hentges to relieve Mahle. Hentges delivered a solid inning of work, striking out one batter. Ryan Borucki followed in the seventh and needed only 10 pitches to complete a clean inning.

Tristan Beck, who also impressed during the Dodgers series, continued his strong stretch by striking out the first batter he faced and delivering another effective inning.

Outside of Mahle’s struggles and the lack of offensive production, the bullpen remained one of the brighter spots in the loss, particularly Beck, who has looked extremely sharp in his opportunities this season.

The offense, however, stalled after the home runs from Arraez and Bader. Although the Giants managed additional hits and put runners in scoring position multiple times, they failed to capitalize consistently.

One example came in the seventh inning when the Giants had runners on second and third with one out and Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers due up. Chapman struck out, while Devers grounded out to first, ending the threat.

At this stage of the season, the lack of production with runners in scoring position has become increasingly difficult to ignore. Even with roster moves such as the call-ups of Jesus Rodriguez and Bryce Eldridge, the offense continues to look lost at times.

Add in the continued struggles from Devers and Chapman, and the lineup remains a significant concern moving forward.

The Giants would ultimately lose the series opener 5-2 and will resume play Saturday with Trevor McDonald set to take the mound.

The rookie right-hander has impressed through his first two starts despite some learning moments in his last outing against the Dodgers, where he allowed nine hits but limited the damage to three runs.

McDonald enters with a 1-0 record and a 2.92 ERA and is set to face Athletics starter Luis Severino, who has struggled this season with a 2-4 record and a 1.52 WHIP across 48.2 innings. Saturday could provide the Giants with an opportunity to reset offensively as the struggles at the plate continue to resurface.

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