SAN FRANCISCO — The Pirates arrived in San Francisco looking to build on momentum generated during a series victory over the Diamondbacks, squaring off with a Giants team that had lost eight of 10 and was sporting the world offense in Major League Baseball.
Unfortunately for Don Kelly’s team, things didn't exactly follow that script.
Carmen Mlodzinski gave the Pirates a strong start, but they couldn’t do much of anything against San Francisco starter Robbie Ray, ultimately suffering a 5-2 loss to the Giants on Friday at Oracle Park.
Pittsburgh mustered just four hits and scored its only run on Marcell Ozuna’s solo homer in the second inning. On the flip side, the Giants — last in the Majors by a wide margin in runs, home runs and OPS — dictated the pace offensively.
San Francisco pounded out a dozen hits and broke things open when Justin Lawrence entered in the seventh with Mlodzinski at just 74 pitches, scoring three more times to leave with a relatively easy win.
The loss was just the second in seven May games for the Pirates, who dropped to 21-18 on the season.
If there was any sort of positive from Friday it was that Mlodzinski delivered a relatively strong start, allowing two earned runs over six innings. The right-hander wasn’t dominant; he registered just three whiffs and one strikeout. But he did enough to deliver a quality start — just the second for Mlodzinski this season — and did so in efficient fashion.
However, their lack of offense combined with an ineffective seventh was obviously not a recipe for success.
Marcell Ozuna gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead with his 300th career homer in the second inning when he went down and got a 1-2 slider from Giants starter Robbie Ray, knocking it over the left-field fence.
In the process, Ozuna became the 15th player from the Dominican Republic to reach that number.
The lead for the Pirates didn’t last long, as first baseman Rafael Devers extended his hitting streak to eight games with a solo homer in the bottom of the second. Mlodzinski got ahead, 1-2, but threw a sinker down the middle that Devers crushed to straightaway center.
San Francisco pulled in front after opening the fourth with back-to-back singles. Jared Triolo threw home for an out. Bryan Reynolds made a nifty catch at the wall. But left fielder Heliot Ramos shot a Mlodzinski curve back up the middle to make it 2-1.
The Pirates kept it close until the seventh inning, when the Giants rallied against Justin Lawrence and Evan Sisk, scoring three more times.
Center fielder Drew Gilbert drove in the first run, pulling a sweeper left over the middle of the plate into right field to increase the Giants’ lead to 3-1.
Lawrence was out of the game after he hit the fourth batter of the inning, catcher Jesus Rodriguez. That's when second baseman Luis Arraez did what he always seems to do by getting his bat on a ball and hitting a slow roller into right to score two more.
The Pirates had just two hits after Ozuna's home run, though one was Spencer Horwitz's pinch-hit, RBI-single in the ninth inning, driving in Oneil Cruz.
Around the horn
• With his stolen base in the second inning, Konnor Griffin now has nine in 33 games without getting thrown out. Since caught stealings were first tracked in 1951, that’s tied for the third-most successful steals by a Pirate to begin his career. The only ones with more were Donn Clendenon (13, 1961-62) and Chase d’Arnaud (11, 2011). Andrew McCutchen stole nine in a row in 2009 before he was thrown out.
• More impressive than the steal for Griffin was his diving play up the middle to rob Ramos in the second inning. Much like the baserunning, Griffin’s range at shortstop is very impressive.
• Nick Gonzales walked three times, the first three-walk game of his career.
This story will be updated.
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.