Miscues loom large in SF Giants’ series-opening loss to Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — Facing the stiffest test of his short career as a starting pitcher, the biggest impact Jordan Hicks made Friday night against the Phillies wasn’t anything he did on the mound. It was his delay getting off of it.

With the speedy Trea Turner standing on second base with one steal already under his belt, Hicks remained stationary when his full-count splitter to Bryce Harper popped out of Tom Murphy’s glove. Turner advanced to third, saw home plate vacant and made a dash for it.

Hicks realized, but it was already too late.

Replay review confirmed Turner’s right foot slid across the plate just ahead of an acrobatic attempt at a tag from the pitcher, and that might as well have put the game out of reach for the Giants. It was the Phillies’ fourth run, a total San Francisco failed to reach for the eighth consecutive game in a 4-3 loss.

“That was the least of my worries today,” said Hicks, who failed to complete five innings for the first time this season and was handed his first loss, allowing four runs (two earned) and issuing four walks. “I mean, I saw him round (third) and I was like, ‘All right, this is going to be a play.’ … I thought I got him.”

It was another story of missed opportunities offensively, with the same main character.

Stepping to the plate with the bases loaded twice, Jorge Soler popped out to end the second inning and and grounded into a double play in seventh after the first three Giants had reached base. The double play, turned unassisted by shortstop Edmundo Sosa, drove in the Giants’ third run of the game but didn’t go into the stat column as an RBI, leaving the $42 million designated hitter’s total at eight, tied for eighth on the team, only three of which were not himself on home runs.

“We all feel like he’s going to get a hit in those situations,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It just hasn’t happened yet.”

Soler has come to the plate 26 times with runners in scoring position and delivered hits only three times, a .115 batting average. As a team Friday, the Giants stranded eight men on base and went 2-for-11 in opportunities with runners in scoring position.

The Phillies’ powerful lineup, meanwhile, provided a different look for Hicks, who took a 1.59 ERA into Friday’s start, sixth-best in MLB. That number had come in six starts against the Padres, Nationals, Marlins, Diamondbacks and Pirates, a group that includes only two teams performing at the league average or better, as measured by wRC+.

Entering the series, the Phillies owned a wRC+ of 111, with 100 as the league average, the seventh-best mark in the majors, so it should come as no surprise that they caused Hicks more trouble than he faced in any of his previous starts.

“I never really go into a game thinking how tough or how good this lineup has been,” Hicks said. “I like to use my strengths against everybody. They definitely have a really good lineup and took some good pitches. … I didn’t feel like I had everything today, but a lot of it was having men on. I feel like when I was executing first-pitch strikes, the at-bat went pretty good and I didn’t, it didn’t.”

The four innings from the converted reliever amounted to his shortest start of the season, running his pitch count up to 88 — only 47 strikes — by the time he recorded his final out. After issuing only three total walks in his first three starts, he has now walked three or more batters in three of his past four outings.

Allowing the Phillies to take a 3-2 lead in the third inning, Hicks threw 10 straight pitches outside the strike zone. Eight of them helped put Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto on base with free passes, and one Alec Bohm swung at and lined into left field, driving home Kyle Schwarber, who reached on Matt Chapman’s second error of the game.

Chapman, a two-time Platinum Glove winner, also airmailed a throw to first base, only the seventh time in his career he committed multiple errors in a game.

The most consequential miscues, however, came on Turner’s two-base passed ball the following inning.

In addition to Hicks’ oversight, Murphy was late retrieving the ball from the backstop and his throw took his pitcher up the first base line, away from the sliding Turner. The shortstop was also allowed to reach second base on a delayed steal that appeared to catch Murphy by surprise.

“It was weird, right? Splitter up — you don’t expect it to do anything,” Murphy explained. “At the last second, it dived on me. I just didn’t have sight of that as it was coming down. I thought I had it in my glove. I go back to pick up the ball and, sure enough, Trea’s coming around. I should’ve thrown a better ball to Jordan.”

Not to be overlooked: Jung Hoo Lee’s sensational running catch to rob Johan Rojas of extra bases in the fourth inning. Lee covered 87 feet and reached a sprint speed of 28.3 mph, according to Statcast, while tracking down and backhanding the fly ball that appeared destined for the warning track.

Hicks’ appropriate but not-fit-for-print verbal reaction was caught on Apple’s 4K cameras.

“I told (Lee’s interpreter, Justin Han), ‘Come here’ because he was on the other end of the dugout,” Hicks said. “I had to tell him how good that play was.”

Added Melvin, “There’s good catches, and there’s that one.

“There was a point in time where I didn’t think he was going to catch it. And I didn’t think, and I didn’t think. And all of a sudden he throws his glove out. That’s about as good of a play on the run as you’re going to see.”

Hicks wasn’t the only starter having trouble commanding the baseball.

Aaron Nola also walked four and was done after four innings, but the Giants failed to capitalize on his mistakes. They made him throw 46 pitches in the second inning alone but left the bases loaded when Soler popped up to end the inning.

The Giants managed two runs out of the situation, thanks to Thairo Estrada. He drove a double to the right field wall that scored Patrick Bailey and Chapman, who led off the inning with back-to-back walks.

The 2-0 advantage was the first time the Phillies had allowed their opponent to score first in their past 11 games. An inning later, it had evaporated.