Giants fall to Diamondbacks, Leake hit hard

PHOENIX The Giants took the field on Labor Day and played for a paycheck. The quality of their play did not suggest they were playing for much more than that.

Mike Leake got pounded for 11 hits, ground balls shot past infielders, and the Giants offense appeared listless until it was too late in a 6-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Giants lost for the eighth time in 10 games; they could not carry over any momentum from their two victories over the weekend in Denver. And their only bright moment Monday came in the eighth when All-Star second baseman Joe Panik, in his first major league at-bat since Aug. 1, hit a pinch double over the head of Arizona center fielder A.J. Pollock.

The Giants did not amass 10 hits so much as whisper them against Patrick Corbin and a series of Arizona relievers.

Buster Posey had one of the Giants’ two hits in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position when he singled home Panik in the eighth. Panik remained in the game and played an inning at second base. He’s expected to return to the lineup Tuesday.

Leake’s 11 hits allowed in 5 ?2/3 innings matched a season high. The other team to do it? Why, the Giants, back on May 16 at Cincinnati when Brandon Crawford hit a grand slam and they blitzed him for nine runs.

This time, little-used second baseman Phil Gosselin landed the sternum shot with a three-run home run in the second inning. The Diamondbacks added two more on a series of hits that skipped on the hard infield here and past defenders even Crawford who appeared a step slow all day.

The Giants slipped to nine games behind the Dodgers in the loss column, but regardless of the standings, Leake has plenty at stake down the stretch. He’ll be a 27-year-old free agent in a few weeks, and it’s anticipated he will receive plenty of interest from teams looking to spend one tier below aces such as David Price, Zack Greinke, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann and Jeff Samardzija.

When the Giants acquired Leake from the Cincinnati Reds on July 31, they were two games up for the second NL wild card and a half-game back of the Dodgers in the NL West. Leake is not a prime reason the Giants have faded to the periphery of both races. But he has not provided much of a boost, either. He missed three weeks because of a strained hamstring while running routine sprints, and acknowledged he might not have hydrated enough on a hot day in Atlanta.

He is winless in five starts as a Giant (the team is 1-4) and has a 4.31 ERA over that span. But Monday’s start was the first one in which he mostly pitched the Giants out of the game.

Ryan Vogelsong threw two shutout innings in a surprising relief appearance. Vogelsong had been Tuesday’s scheduled starter, but Tim Hudson will make the start instead.

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