SAN FRANCISCO _ An ugly San Francisco Giants season got scary for a moment Friday night in a 2-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Brandon Belt was hit in the helmet by a pitch from Arizona rookie starter Anthony Banda and left the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. He went to the ground after being struck by a 79 mph curveball, before walking to the dugout under his own power.
Belt has suffered three concussions during his career _ with the Giants in 2014 and '15 and one in college at Texas. The two incidents with the Giants _ neither of them caused by a pitched ball _ resulted in the 29-year-old first baseman missing a combined 61 games.
He almost certainly faces concussion protocol testing before being allowed to return to action.
One night after scoring 11 runs in a win over the A's, the Giants could do little against Banda (1-1), making just his second major league start. The 23-year-old right-hander allowed three hits _ none of which got out of the infield _ and struck out seven in six innings. The Giants' lone run scored when Brandon Crawford walked with the bases loaded in the fourth.
In the process, the Giants wasted a solid effort by Madison Bumgarner, who solved virtually everyone in an Arizona uniform, except red-hot Paul Goldschmidt.
A day after hitting three home runs and driving in six runs against the Cubs, Goldschmidt tripled in a run in the fourth inning and doubled to put the Diamondbacks ahead to stay in the sixth. He also singled, completing three-quarters of the cycle.
The Giants are now 1-8 this season in games started by their ace left-hander, who missed three months after injuring his shoulder in a dirt bike accident.
Bumgarner (1-5) threw 104 pitches in seven innings, struck out seven and gave up just two hits to anyone other than Goldschmidt. He has allowed just three runs in his past three starts, but the Giants have won just one of those games.
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