SAN FRANCISCO – Hours after Farhan Zaidi declared that the Giants would put their postseason hopes within the hands of a starting lineup he called the “best in baseball” and a young core that has “been the catalyst for some of our best games,” the struggling A's modified their starting pitcher and kept their lineup in check.
In a 5-2 loss Tuesday night to their last-place rivals from across the Bay, the identical day they were largely idle throughout the MLB transfer deadline, Robbie Ray hit three home runs and put his team in a four-run hole they couldn't get well against his counterpart, fellow left-hander JP Sears, who held the Giants to zero for seven innings.
The loss ended the Giants' four-game winning streak that lasted the season and did nothing to assist them of their hunt for a wild-card spot within the National League, where all six teams ahead of them won, including the Padres, who hit two home runs within the ninth inning to force time beyond regulation against the Dodgers, who eventually won 6-5.
“It's probably going to be on us to carry the load a little bit,” said Ray, who allowed three or more home runs for the thirteenth time in 223 profession starts. “We definitely have the guys to do it. We've just got to go out there and do what we can … I felt like it was just poor execution tonight. I just left a couple of throws over the plate, and if I execute, it's probably an out, and they made me pay for that.”
In his second start after Tommy John surgery, Ray's first pitching appearance at Oracle Park didn't go as easily as his major league comeback last week at Dodger Stadium, when he had eight strikeouts in five hitless innings. Ray allowed seven hits and three walks and battled traffic on the bottom paths in every inning he pitched, but his night ended with one out within the fifth inning when Brent Rooker turned a 95 mph fastball right into a two-run homer.
The pitch was Ray's 93rd of the night and “95 is about what we saw today, tops, so he had to go out in the middle of the inning,” manager Bob Melvin said. “They just made him work. He threw a lot of pitches. He made a few mistakes and they hit a couple of home runs, which they've been doing for a while now.”
The three home runs were essentially the most allowed by a Giants pitcher in a game this season, and JJ Bleday added a fourth with a solo home run within the eighth inning against Taylor Rogers to increase the result in 5-0.
Ray's shaky performance is just not surprising for a pitcher making his second start since major elbow surgery, but it surely also highlights the chance of the Giants' deadline strategy, which is banking on the 32-year-old quickly returning to the shape that earned him the American League Cy Young Award in 2021.
“He's not going to make any excuses for it,” Melvin said, meaning that Ray could have pitched with less adrenaline than in his first start in 16 months.
“I don't think so,” Ray said when asked if an absence of adrenaline played a task. “I felt good before the game. My arm felt great. My body felt great. It was just the execution that was poor.”
By trading Jorge Soler to Atlanta, the Giants have given Marco Luciano a probability to get regular time as a chosen hitter after he hit six home runs with as many walks as strikeouts for Triple-A Sacramento last month. The 22-year-old top prospect hit a double within the eighth inning to attain after the Giants forced Sears out of the sport, but he went down on his first two attempts on the plate and the Giants couldn't do way more offensively.
Tyler Fitzgerald's hit streak ended at 0-4 after 12 games, and the Giants scored five or fewer runs for the fourth time in 12 games for the reason that All-Star break. Patrick Bailey singled home Matt Chapman to chop the deficit to 5-2 within the ninth inning, but they still scored 4 or fewer runs for the seventh time for the reason that break.
Heliot Ramos, whose All-Star first half was a giant reason the Giants didn't play higher Tuesday, was ejected within the seventh inning for arguing with home plate umpire Chris Segal about balls and strikes. Segal threw him an indication on the tenth pitch of his at-bat — at the highest of the strike zone — and didn't let him get much of a word before throwing him out of the sport. It was Ramos' first profession ejection and the primary time a Giants player has been ejected from a game this season.
Ramos apologized, saying he didn't just like the call and that he went too far in the warmth of the moment, but all he revealed was that he “said something I shouldn't have said.”
“I thought it was a bit quick,” said Melvin, who has already been sent off 4 times this season.
The only outside addition the team made to its outfielders, Mark Canha, probably wouldn't have made much of a difference. As his substitute within the lineup at first base against a left-handed starter, David Villar began the sixth with a double into the precise field corner, giving the Giants the primary of two extra-base hits.
Villar moved to second base with no out and stayed there while the subsequent three batters – Derek Hill, Tyler Fitzgerald and Casey Schmitt – retired, ending the inning. Bailey's single within the ninth inning was her only hit in seven possibilities with runners in scoring position.
“We were a little behind his heater and his slider is a taste thing if you haven't played him a lot,” Melvin said of Sears, who entered the sport with a 4.81 ERA. “He doesn't have a lot of depth. But he pitched pretty well and got some calls on the outside corner for right-handers that helped him a little bit. But he pitched well.”
Remarkable
The Giants held a minute of silence before the sport to honor Reyes Morontawho pitched for the team from 2017 to 2021 and died on Monday on the age of 31.
Next
RHP Logan Webb (7-8, 3.72) competes against RHP Ross Stripling (2-9, 6.02) for the Giants' final home game and the ultimate round of the Bay Bridge rivalry at Oracle Park. First pitch is scheduled for six:45 p.m.
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