By Morris Phillips

It was last thing anyone that cares about the Giants wanted to see.  Eight scoreless innings only to see a meaningless run pushed across in the ninth in a 4-1 loss to the slightly less offensively-challenged Mets.

After seven consecutive losses and finally a win, the Giants are back in the loss column again.  And this time, given their current state, this loss could be seen coming a mile away.

Reigning Rookie of the Year Jacob DeGrom loves pitching in the daytime, and his teammates have responded to matinee starts as well.  In this case, the combination of DeGrom’s lights-out pitching and the team’s confidence outweighed an awful road record that saw the Mets drop 18 of 22 on the road at one point.  And DeGrom’s not only good, he’s been hot as well, winning six of last eight decisions to enter the discussion for the NL’s starter in the All-Star game.

To combat DeGrom and the Mets, the Giants offered a lineup minus Buster Posey, a late scratch due to a hamstring issue.  Angel Pagan was a scratch as well.  With or without Posey and Pagan, the Giants have whiffed lately, scoring just eight runs in their previous five games coming in.

Manager Bruce Bochy probably saw the writing on the wall right before he posted his lineup in the dugout before the game.

“When you’re going against a guy like this you’ve got to play perfect ball,” Bochy said.

DeGrom allowed just two hits, struck out 10, and retired 13 in a row at one point.  Catcher Kevin Plawecki likened his vantage point to that of a video game.

“He’s a lot of fun to catch,” Plawecki said of DeGrom.  “He got ahead of a lot of guys and was able to throw any pitch he wanted.”

The Dodgers shut out the Phillies 5-0 Wednesday night to increase their lead in the NL West to five games over the Giants and Diamondbacks.  The Mets hadn’t captured a road series since May before winning two of three this week against the Dodgers and Giants.  Despite an awful 16-28 road record, the Mets are a big-league best 20-8 during the day.  DeGrom’s 5-1 during the day and he lowered his ERA to 1.09 across seven daytime starts.

Jake Peavy single-handedly dragged the Giants into the late innings despite making just his second start after a lengthy stay on the disabled list.  Peavy’s reward?  A Brandon Crawford throwing error in the sixth that allowed Ruben Tejada to score from third with the game’s first run.

Peavy was still battling in the seventh when he allowed consecutive singles, the second one to DeGrom.  The next batter, Juan Lagares, grounded out to third base, but that was good enough to get Eric Campbell home from third.

The veteran fell to 0-4 despite scattering six singles across his seven innings of work.  Peavy looked healthy and pitched great, a good sign going forward according to Bochy.

“When he’s healthy, he’s like that,” Bochy said.  “I’m encouraged, I really am, at where (Peavy and Tuesday’s starter Matt Cain) they’re at.  Both of them.  We’ll be a stronger team with those two in the rotation.”

“I was excited to get back out there a couple of times before the All-Star break and get my feet wet.  We hope we can be a big shot in the arm.  Me and (Cain) are going to push each other.”

The Giants’ first-time All-Stars—Joe Panik and Crawford—were a combined 0 for 8 along with Crawford’s damaging throwing error.  Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt each had a pair of hits, and both contributed to the Giants’ ninth-inning rally.  The game ended when Andrew Susac grounded out as the potential tying run with Belt and Pence both aboard.

On Friday night, Madison Bumgarner faces Cole Hamels, as popular a name as any among numerous mid-season trade rumors.  The Phillies-Giants matchup commences at 7:15pm.