PHILADELPHIA -- The Giants’ bullpen recorded a Major League-worst 6.26 ERA in May. June isn’t off to a much better start.

Left-hander Jarlín García surrendered a pair of home runs in the sixth inning as the Giants blew a three-run lead and fell short of a sweep in their 6-5 loss to the Phillies in Wednesday night’s series finale at Citizens Bank Park.

Wilmer Flores’ three-run shot off Aaron Nola capped a five-run sixth that briefly put the Giants ahead, 5-2, but García couldn’t hold the lead after replacing left-hander Carlos Rodón in the bottom half of the inning.

Rodón allowed two runs (one earned) over five innings and struck out six, including four of the final five batters he faced, but he had to grind through some strenuous innings and ultimately departed after throwing 98 pitches.

Manager Gabe Kapler opted to turn the game over to García, who hadn’t allowed an earned run in 17 appearances to start the year, matching Joe Nathan for the longest such streak in franchise history. García drew a pocket of lefties at the bottom of the Phillies’ lineup, but his scoreless streak came to an end when he allowed a two-run shot to Nick Maton that cut the Giants’ lead to 5-4. Bryson Stott followed with a single to set up another two-run blast from Kyle Schwarber, which put Philadelphia ahead, 6-5.

“I don’t think his slider had as much bite on it,” Kapler said. “When it’s good, it kind of makes a little bit of a right turn. It kind of starts at the hitter and then moves out over the plate, away from the hitter. I think those were backing up on him a little bit. That’s probably the No. 1 factor.”

While García faltered in that spot, Kapler said he has no regrets about removing Rodón from the game, noting that the Giants’ top priority is ensuring that the 29-year-old veteran stays healthy and avoids the arm trouble that has plagued him throughout his career.

“One of the easier decisions of the year, frankly,” Kapler said. “It’s not that we don’t think Rodón can go out there and get more outs for us, but he wasn’t efficient tonight. And then second, we have a guy who hasn’t given up a run all year long.”

Rodón agreed.

“The competitor in me, I’d like to have the ball, but I understand the decision there,” Rodón said. “They might as well go to a lefty. They’ve got all those lefties coming up. It’s a long season, so you’ve got to stay fresh throughout it.”

Rodón recorded a 1.80 ERA over his first six starts of the year, but he hit a rough patch in May and entered with a 7.30 ERA over his previous three outings. Still, he felt he found something mechanically toward the end of his start against the Phillies, helping him strike out the side in the fifth and generate 14 swinging strikes overall, 10 of which came on his blazing fastball that topped out at 99 mph on Wednesday.

“It hasn’t been very good the last few starts, as we know,” Rodón said. “But it was nice to get those swing-and-misses and punch out some guys. It was pretty encouraging.”

Sloppy defense by the Giants likely cost Rodón a chance to pitch deeper into the game, as he needed 25 pitches to get through the fourth inning after Odúbel Herrera walked and advanced to third on a throwing error by Flores at first base. The next batter, Johan Camargo, hit a hard grounder to third baseman Jason Vosler, who threw too quickly to the plate instead of catching Herrera in a rundown. Herrera managed to retreat back to the bag safely and ultimately scored an unearned run on Maton’s bunt to extend the Phillies’ lead to 2-0.

Vosler and Flores redeemed themselves by delivering big hits to fuel the Giants’ five-run rally in the sixth, but San Francisco missed a chance to sweep the Phillies in Philadelphia for the first time since 2004 following the hiccup by García.

While several Giants relievers have scuffled over the past month, Kapler said he isn’t too concerned about the long-term outlook for the bullpen, especially since it features most of the same arms that recorded the best ERA (2.99) in the Majors in 2021. One particularly encouraging development is the resurgence of veteran Jake McGee, who struck out one during a 1-2-3 eighth inning while hitting 97.4 mph with his fastball.

McGee logged a 9.58 ERA over his first 11 appearances of the year, but he’s looked much sharper since returning from the injured list last week, which should help stabilize the relief corps moving forward.

“We’re not going too high or too low,” Kapler said. “We’re certainly not going to get down on a bullpen that was excellent last year and has been excellent in stretches this year and has all the talent in the world to be great going forward. We’re just going to say we expected that there might be some stretches of ups and downs.”