Giants silenced by Chris Sale in 3-1 loss to Braves

The San Francisco Giants’ once-maligned offense entered their matchup with Chris Sale boasting one of their most impressive streaks of the season, 12 straight games with at least three runs, tied for the longest active streak in the majors and the longest such stretch by the club since 2004.

Held hitless into the fifth inning, they looked like a club facing a seven-time All-Star making a strong bid for his eighth — and first since 2018 — in a bounceback age-35 season in Atlanta while being handed a 3-1 loss to even their series against the Braves.

The Giants’ first hit of the game came courtesy of catcher Curt Casali, and he was promptly erased when the next batter, Tyler Fitzgerald, popped up the first pitch of his at-bat to right field to end the inning.

Leading off the sixth, the Giants’ designated hitter-turned-doubles machine, Jorge Soler, laced his 11th two-bagger since the start of June and came around to score their only run of the game on two-out, two-strike double from Matt Chapman two batters later.

Another two-strike knock from Chapman with one out in the ninth allowed the Giants to bring the tying run to the plate against Braves closer Raisel Iglegias, but that was all the offense they were able to mount, snapping their scoring streak at 12 games.

Following a 5-2 home stand with a comeback win to open their series in Atlanta on Monday, the Giants had climbed within two games of .500 entering Wednesday, and the loss was only their third in their past nine games.

Soler’s 11 doubles are tied with the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson for the third-most in the majors since the start of June, trailing only Jonathan India (13) and Francisco Lindor (12), batting .280 with an .854 OPS in that span.

Sale struck out nine over six innings, issuing two walks before the Giants notched their first hit. The Giants’ starter, Jordan Hicks, was handed the loss, allowing all three of the Braves’ runs on eight hits while striking out six and walking two over five innings.

Five’s the magic number

As Andrew Baggarly noted in The Athletic, when Hayden Birdsong notched his first major-league win Tuesday, following Spencer Bivens the day before, it became the first time the Giants starting pitcher had earned a win in consecutive games since May 18-19.

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