PHOENIX -- Giants manager Gabe Kapler knows that even the best teams in baseball go through difficult stretches. But over the first three months of the season, his squad didn’t face much adversity at all.

As June ended, the Giants sat atop the National League West with a 50-29 record, marking the seventh time since 1958 they entered July with the best record in the NL. But as a new month begins, San Francisco is finally enduring its first truly tough portion of the season.

On Thursday, right-hander Johnny Cueto allowed a season-high-tying five runs as the Giants dropped the opener of a four-game series against the D-backs, 5-3, at Chase Field. San Francisco has now lost four games in a row for the first time this season.

Before this stretch, the Giants had dropped three straight only once -- when they were swept by the Dodgers at Oracle Park from May 21-23. Two of San Francisco’s losses during its current slide also came against Los Angeles.

“There needs to be a sense of urgency when we’re not winning baseball games and we’re not getting the big hit and we’re not making enough pitches, and we have that urgency,” Kapler said. “We’re disappointed after a game like tonight. It was not our best baseball from any angle.”

Let’s start with the starting pitching, one of the Giants’ biggest strengths thus far. Cueto had been on a roll of late, allowing only three runs in 13 innings over his previous two outings. But the right-hander was under the weather this week, receiving fluids to overcome what Kapler called the “tail end of the illness.”

Still, Cueto went five innings and delivered 90 pitches. He just wasn’t as sharp as he’d been recently, issuing two walks and giving up six hits, including a pair of home runs. The D-backs took the lead on a two-run homer by Josh Reddick in the fourth, then Pavin Smith tacked on a run with a leadoff homer in the fifth.

“I wasn’t feeling well, I didn’t have any energy,” Cueto said through an interpreter. “But that’s not an excuse. I wanted to go out there and perform and give it my all.”

Offensively, the Giants have cooled off, scoring only eight runs during this skid. While getting swept in two games in Los Angeles earlier this week, San Francisco went 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position. It mostly struggled to get runners that far on Thursday, going 0-for-3 in those situations.

The Giants’ three runs came on two swings. Mike Yastrzemski, who returned to the lineup after missing a game due to a right shin contusion, hit a solo homer off D-backs starter Merrill Kelly in the first. Wilmer Flores also took Kelly deep, belting a two-run homer in the fourth.

However, Kelly overcame those early blasts to go seven quality innings, working around seven hits and striking out seven. Meanwhile, San Francisco had only one hit -- a ninth-inning single by Steven Duggar -- over the game’s final four frames.

“I don’t think we’ve swung the bats like we’re capable of these last four games,” said catcher Buster Posey, who went 2-for-4. “Still have been in the games, so that’s always a positive. But with our offensive capability, I think we expect a little bit more.”

Is it time for the Giants to come together for a team meeting to rally the troops and try to figure out what’s wrong?

Not yet, according to Kapler.

“Frankly, it’s really not who we are as a staff,” Kapler said. “We’ll have individual conversations, and at the right time, if we need to address the group, we will. Right now, I think it’s staying measured and that’s the best way to get back on track.”

Posey agrees. After all, the Giants still own a half-game lead over the Dodgers and have shown during the early parts of the season what they’re capable of when they get hot.

“There’s no panic button,” Posey said.

And with three more games against the last-place D-backs and a six-game homestand next week, the Giants may just get things straightened back out before the All-Star break.