Giants’ brutal struggles against Diamondbacks continue with seventh consecutive loss to NL West foe

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PHOENIX — It would be inaccurate to describe the Diamondbacks as kryptonite to these Giants, if only because that would imply they had some kind of superpowers.

More than halfway into the season, it’s clear that’s not the case.

One thing’s for sure: They don’t have an answer for this Arizona team, which got to Tyler Mahle in the fifth inning and never let the Giants catch up Monday to begin a three-game series.

It was the seventh time the teams have played this season with the same result. They hadn’t lost seven in a row against one foe to start a season since going 0-7 against the Padres in 2010.

Besides the leadoff homer Mahle surrendered to Ketel Marte that put Arizona up 1-0, things started off positively enough for the Giants. Mahle kept the Diamondbacks quiet, and they tied things up by giving them some of their own small-ball medicine on a squeeze bunt that scored Victor Bericoto.

For a cherry on top, Jonah Cox even beat out the bunt and swiped second.

But Cox didn’t make it past third base, and Mahle didn’t make it out of the next inning.

He walked the leadoff man, allowed the No. 9 hitter to poke a single and loaded the bases with another free pass. That brought up Geraldo Perdomo, who subsequently unloaded them with a bases-clearing double into the left-field corner that Bericoto allowed to bounce around.

Manager Tony Vitello didn’t leave Mahle in to face the damage: He opted for left-hander Sam Hentges to force the switch-hitting Perdomo to bat right-handed with the bases loaded.

The decision was sound, with Perdomo performing substantially worse from the right side this season despite even career splits, but it backfired anyway.

Turns out, the mistake came before the game, when nobody told Mahle he was operating on a pitch count. He said he would have pitched differently to his last hitter, Ketel Marte, the recipient of his second walk, had he been aware it was his final batter.

“I didn’t realize I was on a pitch limit of like 85, so Ketel was up there and he’s done well against me, so I was like, OK, I’m not gonna give him anything to hit,” Mahle said. “Then I got taken out. … I didn’t know I was on a pitch count, or else I would’ve gone about that at-bat differently.”

That’s just how this season has gone for the Giants, who fell back to 14 games below .500. The Diamondbacks are single-handedly responsible for half that margin.

Speaking of ownage, there’s Nolan Arenado, who’s in an entirely different orbit.

Arenado’s 36th career home run against the Giants, a no-doubter to left off JT Brubaker, added to Arizona’s lead in the sixth and proved to be the difference. He also drew the walk that started the rally in the fifth.

Heliot Ramos, in his second game back from a month-and-a-half absence, golfed a slider from closer Paul Sewald over the center field fence to lead off the ninth, and pinch-hitter Drew Cavanaugh singled home Bryce Eldridge to cut the margin to one run.

But Drew Gilbert and Matt Chapman popped out to end the loss.

Whatever positive inertia was built over the Giants’ 4-2 homestand and a series win over the MLB-best Braves was apparently lost when they ran into the buzzsaw that is the third-place Diamondbacks, who had lost seven of 10 and just been swept by the Rays.

The loss also wrapped up the season series in favor of Arizona for the fifth year in a row, ever since the Giants’ 17-2 campaign during their 107-win 2021 season.

If the results so far were flipped, well, the Giants would be a .500 ball club. They would also be tied with Arizona for third place in the NL West, instead of 14 below .500 and in a seven-game hole.

The pair of homers from Marte and Arenado represented the first time since June 13 that Giants pitchers have allowed opponents to take them deep more than once in a game.

Marte’s leadoff shot was the first home run any Giants pitcher had allowed in five games, dating back to Max Muncy’s solo shot off Dylan Smith in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s 2-1 win over the A’s, ending a run of 37 straight innings without a home run.

Giants starters had kept opposing batters in the park for even longer, going eight straight games without surrendering a home run since Kyle Stowers hit one against Logan Webb last Sunday.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the fastball Marte punished was the third-slowest of the 37 four-seamers thrown by Mahle. He averaged 93.5 mph, topping out at 95.5 mph.

That’s a 1.5-mph increase from Mahle’s average fastball velocity in 11 starts before spending a month on the injured list with a hamstring strain — and would represent his hardest velocity since he averaged 94 mph in 2021.

Giants baserunners have, on multiple occasions already, been doubled off after forgetting the number of outs. Before scoring their first run on a good read from third base, Bericoto managed to make an out in a new fashion even for one of the majors’ worst base running teams.

He confirmed after the game that he didn’t know what the count was when he got caught meandering between first and second after Eric Haase swung through strike two in the second inning.

Catcher Gabriel Moreno fired to first and made Bericoto the third out of the inning after a brief run down, snuffing out a minor rally with two runners on and two outs.

“I don’t want to use the excuse of everything that’s happening back home, but you know, the situation in Venezuela has me rattled up,” said Bericoto, whose brother lost his girlfriend in the powerful earthquakes that struck his home country last week. “It’s not an excuse. I have to do better at my job. But I shouldn’t have made that mistake.”

The young outfielder said he was greeted by “words of encouragement” from his teammates in the dugout, and he made up for the error after doubling in his next at-bat and scoring on Cox’s bunt.

“The conversations were overdone, if anything, in the dugout,” Vitello said. “So it was time to move on, and it was a much better trip around the bases for him. Overall, he played great.”

Landen Roupp will try to get the Giants in the win column against the Diamondbacks for the first time this season Tuesday in the second game of the series. Arizona plans to call up Brandon Pfaadt from Triple-A.