Routed in rainy Philadelphia, SF Giants lose more than just a game

PHILADELPHIA — It’s debatable what was more relentless Saturday evening at Citizens Bank Park: the rain, or the Phillies’ offense.

Neither let up for most of the night, and the ominous weather that delayed first pitch by 70 minutes proved to have some prescient qualities to it.

Adding injury to insult, the Giants lost their second catcher in as many days, their starting pitcher failed to make it out of the first inning, and nobody was smiling about enduring a 14-3 loss in a constant downpour. It ended with a position player, Tyler Fitzgerald, playing out the string on the pitcher’s mound.

You could say Keaton Winn had the worst night of anyone, struggling to grip the baseball, find the strike zone or fool Phillies hitters. But then again, Winn was granted shelter in the third-base dugout after recording only two outs while his defense slogged through a five-run first inning and a four-run second against Mitch White.

The same could be said of Tom Murphy, who didn’t do anything to hurt his ball club but injured himself in the process. The backup catcher was forced from the game in the second inning, leaving Blake Sabol as the only healthy backstop on the active roster after Patrick Bailey left Friday night’s loss with a concussion.

Murphy was being evaluated for a left knee injury after giving chase to a pitch in the dirt from White, which scooted away from the catcher and allowed J.T. Realmuto to scurry home and score the first of four Phillies’ run in the second inning.

By the time the Giants came to bat for a third time, everyone was drenched and they were in a nine-run hole.

It was evident from the get-go that the wet conditions were bothersome to Winn, who issued walks to the first two batters he faced and hit the Phillies’ cleanup man, Alec Bohm. Winn was unable to command either of his two best pitches, the splitter and sinker, and mostly relented to four-seam fastballs before Bob Melvin came out to get him.

Winn’s two-thirds of an inning amounted to the shortest start by a Giants pitcher this season, besides their two games using openers. The Phillies’ 14 runs were the second-most by a Giants’ opponent this season, trailing only their 17-1 loss to the Diamondbacks last month.

Winn’s stinker also snapped a string of strong starts personally — he had allowed three runs over 18 innings in his past three outings — and for the rotation as a whole.

Giants starters had limited opponents to 11 earned runs over their past 11 games, a 1.92 ERA.

The Phillies had nearly reached that total by the end of the second inning.

As the Giants attempted to cut into the deficit, they faced the same challenges that have plagued them all season. They put runners on base but weren’t able to drive them in. They put six men on base in the second and third innings, but Nick Ahmed, who doubled to lead off the second, was the only one to cross the plate.

It was no easy task against Ranger Suarez, the National League pitcher of the month for March and April. The 1.32 ERA the deceptive left-hander took into Saturday night’s start didn’t budge much over six innings, the only other damage coming on a two-run home run from Wilmer Flores in the fifth.