SAN FRANCISCO — Buster Posey has a six-game hitting streak, the only Giants batter who has hit safely in more than two straight games.

He was on the bench Thursday when San Francisco lost its seventh in eight games, a 9-1 rout by the New York Mets.

“A lot of times when you think you are going into a rut, you try to press and do too much,” said Giants starter Barry Zito. “That’s when you get farther in it. As a team, we have to trust ourselves. We’ve been on top most of the season and we just have to be ourselves.”

The Giants have been held to one run or less in four of their last eight games, and have three or fewer in six of them.

They are hitting .164 (9-for-55) with runners in scoring position over that span, and have stranded 49 runners. San Francisco has only hit two home runs at home since hitting two from June 26-29.

“We’ve been awful here this last week,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “We’re in a rut right now and it’s not fun. We have to get it going. Hopefully we can hit the road and get it going again.”

New York, which took three of four from the Giants and won its first series in a month, opened up a 4-0 lead against Zito (8-8) in the first inning and Chris Young took care of the rest.

Young (3-5) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings, struck out four and walked none. He had been 0-4 with a 6.00 ERA in five starts since June 28.

Hunter Pence had a fourth-inning sacrifice fly for San Francisco, which has lost seven of eight since opening a three-game NL lead over the Dodgers on July 25. Melky Cabrera was a home run shy of a cycle.

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