Wild stat shows SF Giants wasted a huge opportunity in the month of May

After a hot start to the season, the SF Giants cooled off a little bit in the month of May with a record of 13-14. That record is not awful, but when one considers how well the pitching staff performed last month it becomes tougher to swallow.

The below social media post from San Francisco Chronicle reporter Shayna Rubin puts into context how well the Giants pitched and how little they got out of their efforts:

SF Giants did not capitalize on superb pitching in the month of May

If you cannot access the post, Rubin writes that the Giants had a team ERA of 2.64 in May which is the lowest they have had in a single month since 2010. The fact that the team was not even able to break .500 on the month shows how bad their offense was.

Had San Francisco's offense simply been average for the month they almost certainly would have had a winning record on the month and may even currently be leading the crowded National League West.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey is preaching patience, but it is going to be tough to remain patient with the team if they continue to spoil great pitching performances like they did with Robbie Ray's gem over the weekend.

Both the starters and relievers have been excellent for the Giants this year. They have the best team bullpen ERA of any team this season and their starting staff looks really strong all around ever since Hayden Birdsong replaced Jordan Hicks in the rotation.

It has been discouraging to watch the team stagnate on offense, but one hopes they can get some sort of spark soon. Jerar Encarnacion is set to return soon so perhaps he can provide some sort of boost. However, the team is really going to need better play from its star players if they want to see the offense turn around.

What is most unfortunate about the team's lackluster May on offense is they had a great opportunity to stockpile some wins that could come in handy later on. As good as the pitching has been, the team cannot count on it being that good all season. Injuries happen and guys can struggle so May was a great chance for the Giants to take advantage of some truly fine work from their pitching staff.

Alas, nothing can be done about it now. All the Giants can do is move forward and hope that their bats eventually heat up so they can have the back of their pitching staff which has gone above and beyond so far this season.