Giants lose to Diamondbacks to end dismal trip

PHOENIX Somewhere along the San Francisco Giants’ three-city, 10-game mental grind of a road trip, their realistic goals changed.

From survival in the standings to survival, period.

Winning the N.L. West will require a miracle now. Regardless, a sprinkling of holy water might not be a bad idea. A banged-up roster is finally limping home after a 2-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

The Giants went 3-7 on the trip, which began with three crippling one-run losses at Dodger Stadium that left them buried in the standings and feeling sprinter’s fatigue with a steep grade still ahead.

They got All-Star second baseman Joe Panik back on Monday, but that was one spiking tech stock in a bear market portfolio. Shortstop Brandon Crawford started just two games on the trip and left both of them early with injuries. Hunter Pence’s oblique remains too sore for him to swing a bat. Nori Aoki woke up with a heavy sensation in his head in Colorado and went to see a concussion specialist in Pittsburgh. Even Buster Posey had to sit out Wednesday’s game with stiffness in his left ankle, which was surgically reconstructed in 2011. And Panik curiously left in the seventh, too, even though he was due to lead off in the eighth.

Their most spry performance on the trip came Tuesday night and belonged to Tim Hudson, who became the first 40-something pitcher to hit a home run and pick up a win in a game since Nolan Ryan in 1987.

From this point forward, though, Bruce Bochy appears ready to run games like a 4-by-100 meter relay. Chris Heston mostly pitched well, paying for just one mistake when Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning. But Bochy had a quick hook in the fifth, when Paul Goldschmidt came to the plate with a runner on second base and two outs. Heston’s last four pitches were intentionally wide to Goldschmidt. He threw just 69 pitches on the night.

The move worked, as Jeremy Affeldt came off the disabled list, oiled up his two knee braces and got a ground ball out from David Peralta. It was a solid contribution to begin what almost certainly will be Affeldt’s final four weeks as a Giant.

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