PHILADELPHIA -- The Giants appeared to draw a reeling team when they arrived at Citizens Bank Park for the start of their three-game series against the Phillies on Tuesday night.
The Phillies came into the game with an MLB-worst 9-19 record, prompting the club to dismiss Rob Thomson and name Don Mattingly as its interim manager for the rest of the year.
But the Giants (13-16) ultimately couldn’t get enough going with the bats to spoil the beginning of the Mattingly era in Philadelphia. They mustered only two hits in a lackluster 7-0 defeat to the Phillies, sealing their MLB-high sixth shutout loss of the season.
San Francisco had no answer for left-hander Jesús Luzardo, who struck out eight and became the first Phillies starter to complete seven innings in 2026. The Giants ended the night with 12 strikeouts, four of which came from third baseman Matt Chapman, who was saddled with his ninth career golden sombrero on his 33rd birthday.
“I’m a coach,” manager Tony Vitello said. “I’d love to be angry at our guys and say they needed to have a better approach. Obviously, we could’ve done things better, but you can’t take away from the way Luzardo was throwing the ball. He made it difficult to get your best [batting practice] swing off in the game.”
Here are three takeaways from the Giants’ series-opening loss:
1. Doubling up
The Giants turned a couple of impressive double plays to keep the Phillies off the board early in the game, with the biggest defensive highlight coming in the bottom of the first inning.
The Phillies had the speedy Trea Turner on first base with one out when Tyler Mahle got Bryce Harper to hit a chopper over the mound. Mahle initially ran back to try to field the ball, but he quickly gave way to a shifted Chapman, who came charging in and fired to first baseman Rafael Devers in time to get Harper at first.
Turner attempted to advance from first to third on the play, but Mahle made the heads-up decision to run to third to cover the open bag, putting him in position to receive Devers’ strong throw across the diamond. Mahle managed to beat Turner to third and tag him out before tumbling into foul territory, completing the wild inning-ending 5-3-1 double play.
“It was unique,” Vitello said. “You’ve got a guy [Turner] that’s known not only for speed, but for hustle activity on the bases. They got a couple of guys like that. For Devers to have a heads-up play there is tremendous, but it’s kind of sandwiched by a really good play by a third baseman -- I know he’s played a long time in the league, but even for Chappy, you end up in a weird spot that you’re not used to because of the shift.
“Maybe the most impressive part of the whole deal is Mahle’s ability around the base, just to catch, tag and also be strong.”
Second baseman Luis Arraez kept the strong defense going in the third, when he made a slick spinning stop on Rafael Marchán’s grounder to the right side and quickly flipped to shortstop Willy Adames to start a 4-6-3 double play that ended the inning.
2. Mahle’s outing
Mahle earned his first win for the Giants after firing seven scoreless innings against the Dodgers last Wednesday and got off to another strong start against the Phillies on Tuesday, facing the minimum over his first three innings. But he allowed Philadelphia to get on the board via Brandon Marsh’s sacrifice fly in the fourth and then couldn’t escape the sixth after he permitted the first four batters he faced to reach on a single, a walk and back-to-back doubles.
“When [Kyle] Schwarber, Harper and the front of the lineup come up, like, three times with guys on, it's a recipe for disaster,” said Mahle, who was charged with five runs on six hits and three walks over five innings. “I’ve just got to be better. I can't lose it like that, especially when you're facing the top of a lineup. You’ve got to make pitches. I just put myself in bad situations too many times there.”
3. Another quiet night for Adames
Adames got his first day off of the year on Sunday after falling into a 1-for-27 slump over his previous six games. The Giants hoped the break would allow Adames to reset at the plate, but the 30-year-old veteran ultimately saw his hitless streak extend to 24 at-bats by going 0-for-3 in his return to the lineup on Tuesday.
Despite the results, Vitello said he showed video of Adames’ batting practice swings to Hall of Famer Jim Thome before the game and thought it was “maybe as good as he’s swung the bat.”
“I've got full confidence he'll come back tomorrow, and once a bloop hit falls or you see one and you get it, then it kind of feeds itself and gets the right way,” Vitello said.