By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The consensus: yeah, the Giants’ offense is struggling, but Jon Gray was on top of his game Monday at Oracle Park.

Gray, a familiar face starting for the eighth time against the Giants since 2015, won for the first time against San Francisco, pitching shutout baseball for six innings in the Rockies 2-0 win.

And it wasn’t how Gray did it, it was when he did it. Three of his six strikeouts came in the fifth and sixth innings with a runner in scoring position, and with all of his arsenal working at that point, the hitters–Alex Dickerson, Mike Yastrzemski and Evan Longoria–were left looking foolish.

Opportunities for the Giants to get back into what was a two-run ballgame throughout, appeared and vanished so quickly, the home crowd had little time to gasp, groan or fuss.

“His fastball had a bit more life, carry and location to it than he’s shown the last few starts,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “Then he started landing the curveball later in the game.”

Gray was 0-3 with a 5.18 ERA against the Giants coming in, but he wasn’t that guy on Monday. He started fast–striking out Yastrzemski and Buster Posey in the first–and finished faster. As the game progressed, Gray maintained the life on his fastball, while not missing on his slider, which confused the Giants’ hitters by consistently arriving at the plate 8 mph slower than his heater. All three of his final strikeout victims swung and missed at the slider to conclude their at-bat, but they also whiffed on it earlier in their at-bats as well.

“I have so much confidence in (my slider) right now. I feel like I can throw it in any count, any time, and use it as a put-away pitch,” Gray said.

Drew Pomeranz was similarly effective for the Giants, striking out a career-best 11 batters in just five innings of work, but his one mistake–a home run allowed to David Dahl–was a familiar one. Pomeranz has given up 15 home runs in his 15 starts this season, already a career-high for him.

Still, Pomeranz needed to pitch better given his 2-7 record and 7.09 ERA coming in, and he did that by pitching effectively up in the zone, and displaying good, late movement on his heater with the exception of the pitch to Dahl. The score ended the evening for Pomeranz prematurely with manager Bruce Bochy needing a pinch-hitter to maximize a rally in the fifth.

“I just was thinking attack. I didn’t want to walk guys, even though I did walk a couple guys,” Pomeranz said. “Some of the other guys had three-pitch strikeouts so it kind of helped balance it out.”

In conclusion, the Giants’ offense just didn’t respond. After a disappointing end on Sunday, in which they went hitless in the final, four innings of tie ballgame, losing 3-2 to the Diamondbacks in 10 innings, they managed just six hits on Monday.

And the clutch hitting was non-existent: the Giants are 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position over their last two games. They were shut out for the ninth time this season, and the fifth at Oracle Park.

The Giants, losers of five of their last seven, will have Madison Bumgarner on the mound Tuesday.