Giants fall to Padres 6-2

SAN FRANCISCO - In a game of inches, punctuality is just as critical as precision.

The Giants were neither on time or on the mark Friday against the San Diego Padres and it cost them in a 6-2 defeat to the last-place club in the National League West.

Manager Bruce Bochy’s squad unraveled in a sloppy top of the sixth inning, committing one physical error and at least two other mental mistakes that helped ignite a decisive two-run rally for the Padres.

After winning three in a row to climb back to .500, the Giants dropped to 38-39 with Friday’s loss and fell 5 games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the division.

The Giants are a veteran club filled with experienced players at nearly every position, but on Friday, they came undone in the top of the sixth following a slew of mistakes characteristic of rookies.

After second baseman Jose Pirela opened the inning with a groundout, third baseman Cory Spangenberg beat Giants starter Chris Stratton to first base on an infield hit that would have been an out if Stratton raced off the mound to cover the bag.

Instead, a sensational diving stop by first baseman Buster Posey turned into a base runner for the Padres. A Freddy Galvis single advanced Spangenberg to third, and another mental error from the Giants allowed San Diego to break a 1-1 tie.

Following a wild pitch from Stratton, catcher Nick Hundley attempted to throw out Galvis running to second, but Hundley’s throw sailed wide of the base and into center field. Even if Hundley delivered a strike, second baseman Alen Hanson was late covering second and would have had trouble collecting the throw.

Galvis took third and later scored on a ground ball through the left side against a drawn-in Giants infield.

Trouble continued in the top of the ninth for the Giants, when a rookie did commit two miscues as reliever Pierce Johnson walked a pair of Padres hitters to open the inning. Johnson was relieved by lefty Will Smith, but Eric Hosmer poked a two out, two-run single to left field off of Smith to pad San Diego’s advantage and put the game out of reach.

A series of mental mistakes crushed the Giants, particularly on a night when Stratton allowed just two earned runs over six innings of work. Stratton didn’t help his own cause by failing to cover first in a timely manner, but the Giants offense did little to challenge Padres left-hander Clayton Richard.

The Giants finally sustained a rally against the Padres in the bottom of the seventh, as San Diego skipper Andy Green needed four pitchers to combine for three outs while the Giants closed their deficit to 3-2.

After Richard opened the frame and allowed a single to Andrew McCutchen, Green tabbed Adam Cimber, Jose Castillo and Craig Stammen to finish off the inning. Pablo Sandoval delivered an RBI single against Stammen, but the right-hander rebounded by stranding the tying run at third base with Hanson at the plate.

The matchup between Stratton and Richard pitted a pair of starters with nearly identical ERAs against each other. Despite their performances this season, though, Stratton and Richard entered with vastly different track records against their Friday opponents.

Stratton tossed seven innings of one-hit ball in his first start against San Diego this season and boasted 13 2/3 career scoreless innings against the Padres. In two previous outings against the Giants this year, Richard surrendered a combined 10 runs and entered AT&T Park with a career 4.58 ERA in 22 outings against San Francisco.

Richard appeared destined for another rough night at China Basin when Giants leadoff hitter Gorkys Hernandez slammed a double into the right center field alleyway to open the first inning, but that was the only hit the club recorded in that frame and the only hit the team posted until Hernández yanked a two-out double past Spangenberg in the bottom of the sixth.