DeSclafani says he is ‘running on fumes’ after surrendering 3 home runs in SF Giants’ loss to Mets

NEW YORK — Trips home for Anthony DeSclafani, a native of northern New Jersey, seem to bring nothing but bad memories.

It was last year in this ballpark that DeSclafani was tagged for five runs, the tipping point that led to his placement on the injured list and what led to eventual season-ending surgery. On Saturday, DeSclafani surrendered three home runs in the span of four batters in the the third inning, sending the Giants to a 4-1 loss in their second game against the Mets.

“I don’t think he’s at his sharpest right now,” manager Gabe Kapler said of DeSclafani, who lasted only three innings.

Brilliant through the first month of the season, DeSclafani has a 6.02 ERA in 11 starts since tossing eight shutout innings on May 2.

In his first season back after undergoing surgery last July to repair a tendon in his right ankle, DeSclafani said he was “running on fumes a little bit” and was looking forward to the All-Star break. He has failed to complete more than three innings in half of his six starts since the beginning of June.

“I feel like fatigue has been setting in earlier in games,” he said. “Just haven’t been able to get over the hump with that. … I’m doing everything in my power to recover and stay strong and be ready every fifth day, but I think that plays a factor.”

DeSclafani threw only 55 pitches before Kapler decided to give the game over to Sean Manaea at the start of the fourth inning. While Manaea surrendered an RBI double to Tommy Pham that extended the Mets’ lead to 4-0, that was the last hit New York got for the rest of the game.

The Giants broke through in the seventh and brought the tying run to the plate but weren’t able to replicate the magic from the night before. The inning even transpired similarly, kickstarted by a throwing error from first baseman Pete Alonso, but Brandon Crawford struck out to end the threat on a slider from Verlander, his 102nd and final pitch of the game.

Held to two runs on five hits for the first seven innings of Friday night’s win, the Giants mustered only one run on five hits Saturday afternoon. Their come-from-behind win Friday stands as their only game in their past six contests in which they scored more than three runs or recorded more than six hits.

“The early parts of games are seemingly not as competitive as they can be and need to be for us to be a great team,” Kapler said of the Giants’ offense, which has the third-lowest batting average in the majors (.209) since the end of their 10-game win streak. “It’s nice to see us continue to claw back and fight late in games, but we need to do better in the early innings.”

They were unable to dig themselves out of the hole DeSclafani put them in with three poorly executed pitches, two with two strikes.

One pitch away from getting out of the third inning with only one homer — a 411-foot shot to right-center on the first pitch seen by Mets rookie catcher Francisco Alvarez — DeSclafani thought he got it against Brandon Nimmo.

On a 1-2 count, he threw a slider that seemed to cross over the outside corner of the plate. Home plate umpire Malachi Moore, however, ruled it a ball outside, and when DeSclafani went back to the slider two pitches later, Nimmo crushed it over the right-field wall.

DeSclafani got to two strikes again on the next batter, Francisco Lindor, but left a fastball over the middle of the plate. Same result.

“I just couldn’t put them away,” DeSclafani said. “I think it was just location. I thought I got out of that inning with clipping a strike to Nimmo and didn’t get the call. So that was frustrating, and then they just put some good swings on the ball. Unfortunately made some bad pitches and they torched them.”

Kapler concurred with the diagnosis.

“I just think he’s missing with location,” Kapler said. “It’s a lot of pitches more in the middle of the plate than we’re used to. That’s the slider, that’s the fastball. It’s very much a command and location thing when it comes to Anthony because he’s such a strike thrower. He’s always going to work a low walk rate, balls are going to be in play, and if they’re in the middle of the plate, they’re going to be hit hard.”

Some 90 minutes from his hometown, with family in the stands Saturday, DeSclafani is still searching for his first career win in nine starts against the Mets.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I guess it’s just how it is.”

Notable

— OF Mike Yastrzemski (left hamstring) began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento on Saturday. He is expected to be activated Monday, when the Giants return home to begin their final home stand before the All-Star break.

— RHP Ross Stripling (0-2, 6.88) will start Sunday’s series finale, opposed by LHP David Peterson (2-6, 7.00), as the Giants look to avoid consecutive series losses for the first time since the first weekend of June.

— C Patrick Bailey‘s 11-game hit streak came to an end with an 0-for-3 afternoon. He was the first Giants’ rookie with hits in at least 10 consecutive games since Buster Posey. His on-base streak remains active, however, after drawing a one-out walk in the ninth inning. Thairo Estrada followed by grounding into a game-ending double play, which was upheld upon replay review.