Win streak ends at, uh, two.

Sweeps are notoriously hard to come by. San Francisco suffered one earlier this week at the hands (and bats) of Arizona but had a chance to hang one of its own Sunday versus Miami.

No such luck. Pitching issues and an offense asked to rally one time too many resulted in a maddening 5-4 loss to Miami.

Better, but not good enough, (AP)

The Giants led, trailed, then equaled the Marlins twice but blew an critical late-game chance in epic fashion while both Matt Cain and the bullpen were good but not good enough. By day's end it had cost them the game, and along with it a chance to crawl back to the .500 mark.

The Giants struck first with a little two-out magic in the second (enough numbers for ya?). Trevor Brown worked a walk,  Brandon Crawford added an infield single, and Gregor Blanco stayed torrid with an RBI bouncer up the middle.

Miami answered immediately. Dee Gordon, who should never be forgiven for having worn Dodger Blue, stroked a one-out single, stole two bags, and scored when Christian Yellich legged out the back end of a would-be inning-ending twin killing.

Four commas and three hyphenates in that last sentence. Medic!

Crawford applies tag; uprising quelled. (AP)

The Giants missed a chance to regain the lead in the third, wasting Joe Panik's one-out triple. The Marlins had no such trouble. Giancarlo Stanton, held in check over the first two games of the series, launched Cain's first pitch of the enemy fourth for a 2-1 Miami edge. Stanton finally got loose, getting three hits plus a walk in this one.

Hunter Pence came back with a bit of "Can You Top This?", taking Adam Conley well past the center field wall to tie the score 2-2 after four frames. It might have been more but replay doesn't work when staffed by morons. Trust us (or check the highlights).

Then came inning number five. It's been Cain's Waterloo all year and it was again. It wasn't the dramatic flameout we've come to expect but Miami did use two singles, a walk and Yellich outrunning another relay to grab a 3-2 lead.

The Giants tried to answer back on three fifth-inning singles of their own but the last resulted in Yellich, whose arm is only slightly stronger than a six-year-old's,  throwing out Angel Pagan at the plate.

Miami added on one inning later. A single opened the frame and a fly to left fell for a double when Pagan lost it in what passed for sun before a sac fly plated the run.  Cain (4R, 10H, 5 2/3IP) whiffed Conley for the second out then gave way to Steve Okert, who did likewise to Gordon to end the threat.

The G-Men responded. Two-out RBI singles from Brandon Belt and Pagan (who giveth, taketh away, and on this day wold give again) knotted the score with three innings to play.

Then with one out in the eighth the bullpen continued what has become a regular occurrence, serving up yet another long ball. J.T. Realmuto's fourth hit of the game was his first homer of the year -- a no-doubt shot off of Josh Osich that put the Giants down a run.

One good failure begs another. Miami's David Phelps opened the eighth with walks to Crawford and Denard Span sandwiched around a Blanco single to load the bases -- and they wasted it. Pagan tapped into a 1-2-3 twin killing and Panik struck out. End of  rally.

The offense's last gasp saw Matt Duffy and Buster Posey whiff, Pence singled to prolong the agony, and Brown slap into a force out to close the misery.

San Francisco had 12 hits and benefitted from six walks and two errors but still came up short. Cain and four relievers gave up 14 hits and walked three. Cain got a no decision while Osich took the loss.

The Giants fell to 9-11, 3 1/2 games back of NL West-leading Los Angeles with Arizona and Colorado wedged in between. But at least they aren't the Padres.

Speaking of the cellar dwellers, they're 1 1/2 games behind the G-Men and set to open a three-gamer at San Francisco on Monday. Madison Bumgarner (1-2, 3.91 ERA) matches up against Drew Pomeranz (2-1, 2.04).

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