Stephen Ellison

Giants Come Out Flat in 8-1 Loss to Royals

SAN FRANCISCO — If you thought the Giants would get a spark from Monday night’s action across the bridge, well …

Coming off their best offensive performance of the season, and an off day, the Giants again came out flat. Jason Vargas and the Royals dominated at AT&T Park, winning 8-1. If you haven’t looked at the standings in a while, we should note that the Giants are now 14 1/2 games behind the Rockies and Dodgers, and 14 behind the Diamondbacks.

Here are five things to know from a quiet night at the yard ...

—- Buster Posey’s double in the second was the 200th of his career. He’s the 24th player in franchise history to reach 200 doubles, but he has a long way to go. Willie Mays holds the record at 504.

—- The two-run rally by the Royals in the third very easily could have been a 1-2-3 inning. Alcides Escobar’s single to right could have been ruled an error on Brandon Belt, and Alex Gordon followed with a flare that just missed Aaron Hill’s outstretched glove. Jason Vargas reached when his bunt found no-man’s land near third. It was that kind of night for Ty Blach, who gave up a two-run single to Jorge Bonifacio later in the inning.

—- Blach was charged with seven earned runs, the second-highest total of his career. The BABIP Gods were unkind to him, but all those runs count, and that’s 12 earned over his past two starts. His ERA has jumped a full run in that span.

—- There was a shark in the cove. I'm running out of steam here, don't judge me.

—- Hunter Strickland, usually a setup man, pitched the eighth with the Giants trailing by seven runs. Bruce Bochy planned to use him no matter what since Strickland’s suspension likely starts Wednesday.

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