SAN FRANCISCO _ The Giants' freefall into irrelevancy continued unabated Tuesday night.
The Giants managed just one hit after the third inning and their bullpen allowed two earned runs in four innings of relief work in a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks before an announced crowd of 28,262 at Oracle Park.
With the Giants down 3-1, Brandon Belt doubled to deep center field to score Mike Yastrzemski from first base. After Evan Longoria was walked, though, a sharply hit ball by Alex Dickerson off Diamondbacks reliever Kevin Ginkel went straight to second baseman Ildemaro Vargas, who threw out Longoria at first base.
The loss was the sixth in eight games for the Giants, now trail the Chicago Cubs by 5.5 games for the National League's second Wild Card spot. The Giants were 2.5 games out of a playoff spot on Aug. 17 after their third straight win over the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
Giants starter Jeff Samardzija lasted just five innings _ his second shortest outing in his last seven starts _ after throwing 92 pitches. His 91st pitch with two out in the fifth inning resulted in a solo homer by Ketel Marte that tied the game 1-1.
After that, Sam Coonrod allowed three hits and one earned run in the sixth and Reyes Moronta gave up an RBI single to Christian Walker in the seventh.
Diamondbacks starter Mike Leake went 7 1/3 innings and allowed four hits and two earned runs.
Relief pitcher Tyler Rogers, called up earlier Tuesday from Triple-A Sacramento, entered the game in the eighth inning and retired three straight batters in his Major League debut.
The Giants (65-67) have the day off Wednesday and host the San Diego Padres for four games from Thursday to Sunday.
