DENVER -- The Giants embarked on their now completed nine-game road trip as winners of 17 of their previous 21 games, having resurrected what looked to be another lost season after last year’s 73-89 finish.

But after a 6-2 loss to the Rockies in Sunday’s series finale at Coors Field, San Francisco finished the trip 4-5, taking some of the luster off the incredible July run that vaulted it into National League Wild Card contention.

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With the Giants still within 2 1/2 games of a Wild Card spot and two months remaining in the season, here are three things we learned from the road trip through San Diego, Philadelphia and Colorado, and what they mean for the stretch run.

They’re going for it

The Giants’ front office demonstrated its faith that the club has a legitimate chance to play in the postseason this year by holding on to Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith through Wednesday’s Trade Deadline.

Adding Scooter Gennett, who homered in his second game with San Francisco on Saturday and is a year removed from a 23-homer, .847 OPS season, also symbolizes that belief, along with the hope that the upside the 29-year-old second baseman offers materializes.

Cueto’s coming, but the back of the rotation is a question mark

On Sunday, Johnny Cueto made his first rehab start since having Tommy John surgery a year ago, pitching for the Rookie-level Arizona League Giants. He could rejoin the Giants’ rotation by late this month or early September. Slotting him in behind Bumgarner and a suddenly stellar Jeff Samardzija, the top of the rotation looks good.

The back of the rotation, however, has been touch and go. Since a strong month of June, Shaun Anderson has a 7.31 ERA over six starts. And Tyler Beede, after giving up five runs over 3 2/3 innings against the Rockies on Sunday, has an 8.16 ERA over his past three starts after a solid run of his own.

Dereck Rodriguez has been shuttled back and forth from Triple-A Sacramento, and has also vacillated between strong and poor outings, giving up seven runs (four earned) over three innings at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday.

“These guys are still learning,” Bumgarner said. “They’re pretty green when it comes to experience here. But they pay attention, try to pick out every little thing they can to get better.

“Coors Field is tough, and sometimes it’ll get you. I don’t put a ton of stock in things that happen here, but we’ve definitely got to get everybody to make that adjustment quick and get back to where they need to be.”

A revived lineup has returned to Earth

San Francisco’s lineup was white hot during July, hitting .268/.330/.464 with 38 homers during the month. But over the last 10 games, of which they’ve won four, the Giants have averaged just 3.2 runs per game, reverting to their form from the first two months of the season.

No one was expecting the Giants to sustain the level of offensive output from last month, but regression to the April and May woes would likely be fatal to any hope of postseason play.

“You look where we were [before July] and where we are now, and that’s not a concern at all,” Bochy said about the club coming down off last month’s high amid the current mini malaise. “You’re not going to stay as hot as we were, but you would like to stay consistent.

“We just got [Evan] Longoria back, and he swung the bat well today [1-for-4 with a single and two lineouts], hit the ball hard. We’re missing Alex Dickerson. Meanwhile, we’ve got to poke around and get some other guys hot.”

One of those other guys who was hot Sunday and provided San Francisco’s only offense on the day was Donovan Solano, who delivered a pair of solo homers to double his season total.

A continuation of Solano’s breakout season -- his wRC+ is up to 129 over 147 plate appearances -- will be one of the keys to sustaining enough offense to make a late-season push, as will Dickerson picking up where he left off after returning from a right oblique strain and Longoria doing the same after he hit .400 with six homers in July.

A big test on deck

The Giants now head home to open a homestand with three games against the Nationals and four against the Phillies, both of whom are ahead of San Francisco in the Wild Card race.

“We’re playing two good teams, teams that are in it,” Bochy said. “It’s going to be good baseball.”