SAN DIEGO – It's not easy being a starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres these days.
With the Padres in an offensive funk, runs are beyond scarce, just as they were in Friday night's 6-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
Tim Lincecum and three relievers combined on a four-hitter and Cody Ross homered as the NL West-leading Giants extended the Padres' losing streak to a season-high seven games.
Pablo Sandoval went 0 for 2, ending his career-best 22-game hitting streak, although he walked twice and hit a sacrifice fly. Andres Torres had three hits, two RBIs and scored three runs for the defending World Series champions.
San Diego had only four singles, three of them off Lincecum (8-7) during his six innings. The right-hander allowed one run while striking out seven and walking three to win consecutive starts for just the second time this year.
It helped that the Giants scored some runs for the two-time Cy Young Award winner, considering that he had received only six runs of support in his previous seven starts. Jeremy Affeldt gave up one hit in 1 2-3 innings, Sergio Romo retired the only batter he faced and Guillermo Mota pitched a perfect ninth.
The Padres, struggling in the first season of the post-Adrian Gonzalez era, have dropped 14 games behind the Giants and 14 games under .500. San Diego has scored just 10 runs during the six-game losing streak, including consecutive 1-0 losses at Los Angeles last weekend.
With such little run support, "You catch yourself picking at the zone a bit," Padres starter Dustin Moseley said. "You try not to. Sometimes you feel like you have to be perfect in certain situations. It's just the added pressure. You try to eliminate those thoughts when they come in your mind, but we're all human. We know what's going on."
The Giants have taken the first two of a four-game series and have beaten the Padres four times in six meetings since July 4.
The Padres scored their run off Lincecum without getting a hit. Alberto Gonzalez walked leading off the fourth, advanced on two wild pitches and scored on Orlando Hudson's grounder to second for the second out.
Ross homered to left off Moseley leading off the second, his seventh.
Torres came up big all game. He singled leading off the game and eventually scored on Sandoval's sacrifice fly. Torres hit an RBI single in the fifth and eventually scored from third as Mike Fontenot was thrown out trying to steal second. He had an RBI double in the seventh and eventually scored on Ernesto Frieri's wild pitch.
Moseley (2-9) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings, struck out three and walked two.
"Early on, to put us in a hole like that, especially with the way things are going, is tough," Moseley said.
Notes: San Diego's Luis Martinez and San Francisco's Hector Sanchez both made their big league debuts as pinch-hitters. Martinez lined out to Affeldt on the first pitch he saw in the seventh. Sanchez walked in the ninth. ... Gonzalez replaced 3B Chase Headley after the top of the first inning. The Padres said Headley has a strained right calf. Headley left Thursday night's game with a bruised left ankle. ... The Hall of Fame asked for and will receive the 1983 throwback jersey Padres manager Bud Black wore Thursday night as the team honored the late Dick Williams. The jerseys the Padres wore Thursday night included a patch with Williams' initials. Williams, who died July 7 at age 82, managed the Padres from 1982-85. The Padres reached their first World Series in 1984, losing in five games to Detroit. ... Williams was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008 after being elected by the Veterans Committee. ... Jim Riggleman was hired by the Giants as a special assignment scout less than a month after he abruptly resigned as Washington Nationals manager when they wouldn't pick up his contract option for next season. Riggleman managed the Padres from late in the 1992 season through 1994, before leaving to become manager of the Chicago Cubs. Giants manager Bruce Bochy was Riggleman's third base coach from 1993-94 with the Padres and was promoted to manager after Riggleman left.
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