CINCINNATI -- Numerous Giants quickly showered, dressed and left Great American Ball Park's visitors' clubhouse after Saturday night's 14-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Their haste was understandable.
The Giants have no desire to linger at the site of such despair. Cincinnati has dominated the Giants in every way possible, outscoring them, 27-5, outhitting them, 34-12, and scoring at least one run in 13 of 16 offensive innings.
"To get beat like this two games in a row," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, "that shouldn't happen."
However, that kind of thing does happen to the National League's worst team. The Giants are 2-3 on this three-city, nine-game trip, having allowed 13 or more runs in each defeat.
"Everybody should be upset about what's going on," Bochy said.
The clubhouse exodus certainly reflected an intent to leave the unfriendly premises. Next comes trying to get it right in Sunday's series finale.
"The effort's there, there's no doubt about that," Giants catcher Buster Posey said. "You have to keep showing up and put your best foot forward and hopefully something clicks and we all catch a groove."
That didn't happen in this game.
"It was pretty much the same story as [Friday's 13-3 defeat]," Bochy said. "When [the Reds] don't hit it hard, balls are going through or falling in."
Cincinnati manager Bryan Price acknowledged that his club is unusually fortunate.
"A lot of times, maybe three or four guys are going well and three or four are scuffling," he said. "Right now, most of the guys in the lineup, including the bench players, are swinging the bat. It makes a difference."
Left-hander Ty Blach, who became the first Giants pitcher to allow at least 10 runs in a game since Jamey Wright surrendered 10 to San Diego on May 1, 2006, said that concentrating on the basic priorities of pitching will be his objective before he makes his next start.
"Just focus in on getting back to driving the ball down in the zone and being able to change speeds," said Blach (0-2), who allowed 10 runs (eight earned) and 11 hits in three innings. His ERA climbed from 2.55 to 5.66.
Right-hander George Kontos, who yielded two runs in his two-inning stint Saturday, cited the time-honored strategy of pitching inside -- not with intent to hit a batter, but to back him off the plate or give him a different look.
"When guys are comfortable like that and taking hacks like that, I think that's when you have to do a better job of moving some feet," Kontos said. "I never want to say it's a bad thing to throw too many strikes, but when guys are looking dead-red in the strike zone and putting good wood on it, sometimes you have to throw the ball out of the strike zone on purpose. I don't think I did a very good job of that today."
He wasn't alone.