SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants were an inning into their fourth straight loss Sunday afternoon when they announced that Brandon Belt landed on the 10-day injured list with right-knee inflammation -- a fitting development as they reached the virtual quarter point of the season with a 10-1 loss and three-game sweep at the hands of the Padres.

That’s because the first 40 games of 2022 were as much about who did not play as who did.

Regulars Tommy La Stella, Evan Longoria and LaMonte Wade Jr. missed the first 34, 30 and 25 games with injuries, respectively. Two-fifths of the rotation, Alex Cobb and Anthony DeSclafani, landed on the injured list. DeSclafani remains there, unable to return before June 21.

Then there’s COVID, which sidelined Belt, Mike Yastrzemski, and relievers Dominic Leone and Zack Littell for seven games each.

The Giants could not get through Sunday’s game without another injury. Center fielder Austin Slater felt discomfort in his left wrist swinging at a MacKenzie Gore pitch in the fifth inning and had to depart. The nature of his injury was not immediately revealed.

Despite all that, plus struggles from some of the healthy players and no Buster Posey, the Giants are 22-18 and sit just two victories off their 40-game pace from last year’s 107-win season.

“It's nice to know that we're still in a good position, even though I think we’ve faced some significant challenges already this year with our COVID issues to some key players being out for long stretches and not having Brandon Belt available to us regularly,” manager Gabe Kapler said before his club played one of its worst games of the year.

“Sometimes we feel like those things are disproportionately impacting us. And we've had moments where it has felt that way. I don't think that's accurate over a long season, but I do think it's accurate for a 40-game stretch. … So to assess that and say that we’re still in a really strong position and in good shape is reassuring.”

The strength of the Giants’ position is not that clear, given one significant difference from 2021.

They have to fight not one but two elite teams in their division, the Padres and Dodgers, now that San Diego is playing at that level even without Fernando Tatis Jr. While the two Southern California teams are neck and neck atop the National League West, the Giants are five games out of first place.

San Diego’s first three-game sweep at Oracle Park since 2016 helped accentuate the point that this Padres team is different.

After beating the Giants in an 8-7 barnburner Friday night, the Padres’ pitchers held San Francisco to one run in each of the final two games. San Diego outhit the Giants 17-4 in the finale, Manny Machado alone matching the Giants’ hit output with three doubles and a triple. For the series, the early MVP frontrunner was 8-for-14 with four doubles, a triple, a home run, six runs and four RBIs.

“They just came in and kicked our [tails],” Giants starting pitcher Alex Wood said.

More dispiriting than Wood’s five-run start was the defensive sloppiness in a five-run fourth inning that contributed to the lefty’s early departure and ran counter to the taut baseball that laid the foundation for last year’s division title.

In a four-batter stretch, diving left fielder Darin Ruf missed a sinking Machado liner that then went to the wall for a two-run double, first baseman Wilmer Flores bobbled an easy bouncer for an error and Joey Bart committed a passed ball ahead of a two-run Wil Myers double.

“We’re kind of not playing our best baseball right now,” Belt said. “They are, so that makes it tough playing a team like that that’s hot. We’re a good baseball team, and there’s not a whole lot of excuses we can make. It just seems like we’ve been flat the past week or so.”

After the Giants seemed impervious to long-term failure last year, Kapler reminded them in Spring Training that they would go through hardships this season, including injuries and spates of poor play.

He also is aware of one other difference from 2021, when the Giants held their own against the league’s best teams.

This year, the Giants have feasted on weaker teams, going 15-6 against the Marlins, Guardians, Nationals, A’s and Rockies, while they are 7-12 against the Padres, Dodgers, Cardinals, Brewers and Mets, who open a three-game series at Oracle Park on Monday night.

“We haven’t played our best baseball against the Padres and Dodgers and a few other good teams,” Kapler said. “It’s also a good reminder that we’re going to stay nice and even through this, just like last year when times were a little tougher. We’re definitely prepared for it.

“We have to right the ship. How do we do that? We improve our practices and our processes, and we’re going to go back and take a look at some of the things that we can be doing better prior to the game. That gives us our best chance to make improvements going forward.”