'Just not executing': Giants fall as Houser's struggles continue

SAN FRANCISCO -- Nearly a month into the regular season, right-hander Adrian Houser is still searching for his first win with the Giants.

The 33-year-old veteran continued his rough start to the year by surrendering a season-high eight runs over four innings in the Giants’ 9-4 loss to the Marlins in Friday night’s series opener at Oracle Park.

The clunker caused Houser to fall to 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA in five starts, leaving him as the only Giants starter without a win this season.

“Just not executing when I needed to execute,” Houser said. “Just leaving balls over the plate. I wasn’t able to get it going. It comes down to execution for me there. Just leaving stuff over the plate, and they were putting good swings on it. Even when I made some good pitches, because I was so erratic, they were able to put some good swings on it and stay on the ball. You tip your cap to them to take advantage of a bad night for me.”

San Francisco (11-15) signed Houser to a two-year, $22 million deal to help fill out its starting rotation over the offseason, but the newcomer has struggled to provide much reliability out of the fifth spot thus far. He’s allowed at least three runs in each of his five outings this year, with San Francisco dropping four of those five contests.

The Marlins jumped out to a quick lead behind a two-out RBI double from Xavier Edwards and a two-run blast from Liam Hicks, who drove a hanging slider from Houser a Statcast-projected 390 feet out to right-center field to put San Francisco in a three-run hole in the top of the first inning.

Miami scored in each of the next two innings before breaking the game open on Connor Norby’s three-run shot off Houser in the fourth. Houser surrendered 11 hits and departed with the Giants trailing 8-0, drawing boos from the crowd as he walked off the field at the end of his 77-pitch outing.

“He was behind in the count a bunch,” manager Tony Vitello said. “I’d have to review the pitch sequences and all that, but it seemed a little predictable. A lot more four-seams maybe than normal. But whatever it was, it was inducing some pretty big leg kicks and some pretty big swings.”

The Giants rallied for three runs against Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara in the bottom of the fifth and cut the deficit to 9-4 on Jung Hoo Lee’s second home run of the year in the eighth, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the short start from Houser. San Francisco leaned on three relievers to cover the final five innings, with long man JT Brubaker doing the heavy lifting by supplying three innings of one-run ball.

The Giants’ other rotation addition, Tyler Mahle, also recorded a 7.23 ERA over his first four starts before rebounding with seven scoreless innings against the Dodgers on Wednesday, so the club remains optimistic that a similar turnaround will be in store for Houser.

“I’ve kind of been battling all year trying to get everything going the right way, get everything kind of synced up and everything,” Houser said. “I felt good all week. I felt good in the bullpen, and then I got out there for the game, and I just felt it wasn’t clicking. I was a little off. I’m going back to the drawing board trying to figure things out. I don’t think it’s a big thing. I just think there’s just something slightly off to get things going and then get back on it.”

Houser opened last season with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate after recording a career-high 5.84 ERA over 23 appearances for the Mets in 2024, but he managed to pitch his way back to the Majors with the White Sox, for whom he logged a 2.10 ERA over 11 starts in 2025.

He wasn’t quite as sharp after joining the Rays at the Trade Deadline, posting a 4.79 ERA over his final 10 starts of the year, but the Giants felt comfortable giving him a multiyear deal in free agency because they thought the mechanical changes he made last season would be sustainable.

That faith hasn’t been rewarded thus far, but Vitello believes Houser will find a way to get back on track.

“He acts like a pro,” Vitello said. “His bullpens are like a pro. He pitches like a pro, handles information [and] conversations like a pro. To this point, in my opinion, he’s thrown the ball fairly well for us. Hopefully he’ll look back and see tonight as a blip on the radar screen. But he’s got to make sure he’s covering things up. You’ve got to make sure that sequence-wise, you do the best you can, but ultimately, you’ve got to attack and work ahead of hitters.”