Giants Try To End AT&T Park Woes Versus Mariners

(AP) -- The last time the Giants lost nine straight home games, Mel Ott and the rest of the lineup really weren't hitting all that poorly at the Polo Grounds.

Seventy-five years later, Buster Posey and Co. can't seem to find a gap at AT&T Park.

While San Francisco's temperamental offense is making for some streaky play, even its current approach is preferable to that of the Seattle Mariners as the clubs begin a two-game set in the Bay Area on Monday night before heading up to Safeco Field for two more.

The Giants (34-30) are in danger of their worst home skid since moving west and their third of at least five games overall this season, while the Mariners (28-35) have been giving themselves no chance at winning by being shut out in three of their last four.

San Francisco is batting .168 on the current skid with 1.5 runs per game, which comes after a five-game slide May 30-June 3 on which it hit .237 and averaged 2.8 runs. It also dropped eight straight from April 10-17 with .189 and 1.9 marks. In spite of it all, the Giants still lead the league in hitting (.284) and the NL in runs (4.8) dating to May 8.

Those last numbers aren't providing any comfort after Sunday's 4-0 home loss to Arizona marked their first eight-game home skid since 1993. The only time they've reached nine was a franchise-record 11-game slide in 1940.

"This was one of our ugliest games," said manager Bruce Bochy, whose club hit into five double plays and had three errors. "The double plays, the errors; it was not pretty."

Posey is 3 for 21 in seven games on the home skid and was out of the lineup Sunday along with Angel Pagan, who is 0 for 17 in his last five overall. The club is batting .211 on the home streak.

Seattle was about as dour as Bochy after Sunday's 13-0 loss in Houston.

"You only have two options - you can hang your head and feel sorry for yourself or you can get back to work," said Kyle Seager, who is 2 for 14 in the last four, while Robinson Cano is 5 for 31 in eight.

The Mariners had two hits and have had no more than four in three of their last four games. Dating to May 27, they're batting .219 and scoring an MLB-low 2.4 runs per game.

Tim Hudson will try to right things for San Francisco, and while his second year with the Giants has been shaky, his best work has come at AT&T. Hudson (4-5, 4.60 ERA) is 3-4 with a 3.83 ERA in seven home starts as opposed to 1-1 with a 5.93 in five on the road.

The right-hander is 3-5 with a 5.64 ERA in 10 starts against the AL since the start of 2013. He's 7-2 with a 2.36 ERA in his last 11 against Seattle, but only one of those has come since 2004.

Seth Smith (4 for 21), Logan Morrison (3 for 20), Willie Bloomquist (3 for 16), Mark Trumbo (2 for 11) and Cano (0 for 6) are all hitting .190 or worse against Hudson.

Taijuan Walker takes the mound for the Mariners. Walker (3-6, 5.40) gave up a run and eight hits in six innings of Wednesday's 9-3 victory in Cleveland. The right-hander improved to 2-1 with a 1.64 ERA in his last three starts for his best stretch of the season, but he's lost all three of his career starts against the NL with a 5.40 ERA.

The Mariners have won 11 of the last 14 in the series, but only three of those games have come since the Giants began their World Series binge in 2010.

San Francisco is 11-2 at home against the AL in the regular season since the start of 2014.

Updated June 15, 2015