By Morris Phillips

At some point, the Giants will have to offer their loyal, ticket-buying fan base something more than the afterglow of three World Series titles in the last five seasons.

That process would naturally start with winning games along the shores of McCovey Cove, but it hasn’t happened yet.  The Giants lost for the fourth consecutive day at home on Thursday, 7-6 to the Diamondbacks in 12 innings.

Aaron Hill’s two-out, two-run double off Sergio Romo decided it, but at least there was a whole lot of Giants’ fight before and after Hill’s game-winner.

The Giants trailed 4-1 in the seventh only to tie it with Brandon Crawford’s two-run homer in the seventh and a single run in the ninth.  When Arizona regained the lead, the Giants rallied to tie it in the tenth.  But in both rallies, the Giants loaded the bases but failed to push across the winning run.

The loss was the Giants seventh straight overall but this time their offense wasn’t dormant.  They banged out 11 hits and grinded in some critical at-bats.  But they stranded a bunch of baserunners, including six by Brandon Belt, who suffered through a frustrating 0 for 6 night.

“The thing you have to like is we kept coming,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We didn’t quit.”

Madison Bumgarner pitched the first seven innings but allowed damaging home runs to Mark Trumbo and Paul Goldschmidt and departed on the hook for the loss.  The Giants’ rally saved Mad Bum but his ERA sits at an unsightly 5.29 after three starts.

“I felt good enough to get outs, but they call it mid-season form for a reason,” Bumgarner said. “It’s tough getting to that.”

The Giants have dropped seven in a row for the first time since 2010.  Their 3-8 start to the season is tied for their worst since moving to San Francisco.