Robbie Ray Welcomes Lineup Reinforcements with Gratitude

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The San Francisco Giants are not fixed. They are not yet healed. They still go to the doctor every day complaining about a chronic case of acute offenselessticity. Wednesday’s explosion — six whole runs!!! — was a day of brief respite, not a sign of wellness.

But on Thursday, with a boost from the desperation doctors tasked with curing the offense, we were reminded that the formula can still work. Elite starting pitching. An untouchable bullpen. And juuuuust enough offense.

We’ve come to expect that first bullet point when Robbie Ray is on the mound. Ray made it abundantly clear from the get-go that he brought the stuff that earned him NL Pitcher of the Month in May. He struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. to open the first. He struck out Manny Machado to end the first. He struck out Jackson Merrill and Gavin Sheets to open the second.

The tone was set, but Giants killers always have other thoughts in mind. And so it was that, despite again striking out a pair of batters to open the third inning, Ray found himself facing Machado for a second time, this time with a runner on base after Luis Arraez legged out an infield single. And Machado, as is a contractual obligation with him a few times each year, crushed the Giants with a majestic home run to open the scoring.

You would understand if Ray mailed it in from there. The Giants, score more than two runs? Inconceivable! He could have thought the game was lost and moved on.

Instead, he did the opposite. He set down the side in order in the fourth, and then in the fifth, and again in the sixth. And while his offensive reinforcements didn’t do all that much, they helped him even when he was on the mound. In the seventh, with one out recorded and the Giants clinging to a 3-2 lead, Jose Iglesias smoked a ball off the left field wall, as recently-activated Jerar Encarnación stood in waiting. Encarnación played the carom perfectly, and got the ball into Tyler Fitzgerald with alarming expediency. So alarming that Iglesias, coasting into second with what he presumed was a no-doubt double, got caught in second gear, past the point of being able to slide, and Fitzgerald was able to lunge across the bag to smack his opponent, like a middle schooler playing tag.

Two pitches later, and Ray had completed seven innings. He’d allowed just four hits and one walk, he’d struck out nine, he’d earned a whopping 21 swing-throughs, and he’d lowered his ERA to 2.44.

Next up was that untouchable bullpen, which was hardly untouchable on this day, but was just adjacent enough. Randy Rodríguez, a day after playing the hero in Camilo Doval’s absence, was tasked with the eighth inning. Something immediately seemed amiss when Brandon Lockridge led off with a single ... hitters aren’t supposed to do that to Rodríguez! He’s built his entire season on the idea that no one can do anything to him!

But Lockridge did, indeed, do something and, with one out, he expanded on the something by taking second on a wild pitch (poor Andrew Knizner was tasked with catching two of the nastiest relievers in baseball in his Giants debut).

And then came yet another defining moment: one of the game’s dominant young relievers against one of its dominant young hitters, as Tatis stepped into the box. On a 2-1 pitch, timed after watching three straight fastballs come his way, Tatis swung and launched a ball deep into the night.

It had the sound, and Tatis took the slow saunter out of the box, flipping his bat casually and confidently. Yet as he accelerated into his trot, Jung Hoo Lee decelerated into his, easily gliding under the ball to make a catch at the front of the warning track.

It was a case of playing the ballpark. Who can blame Tatis for flipping his bat in anticipation of success? Per Statcast, the ball had an expected batting average of .960, and would have been a home run in 12 different ballparks.

But not in the ballpark they were playing the baseball game in. And the road to victory (which the Giants achieved) and a 0.64 ERA (which is what Rodríguez is sporting), is paved with a few cookies crumbling in the proper direction.

That set the table for Doval, recently returned to the closer role, who blew a lead against this same Padres team his last time out. He flirted with doing the same, allowing a leadoff single to Machado and a one-out single to Gavin Sheets. A slow grounder by Iglesias could only produce one out, and suddenly the Padres had not only the tying run in scoring position, but the go-ahead run as well.

And so Doval did that thing he does so well: he made a hitter look like they’ve never played baseball before, and the 3-2 win was secured behind Doval’s 100th career save.

But those three runs? While barely enough, they were noteworthy. Encarnación with his smooth play off the wall, and Knizner with his impressive showing behind the dish weren’t the only newcomers with strong performances.

The magic happened in the bottom of the third inning, just moments after Machado and the Padres had struck first. The top of the lineup provided a spark, with Heliot Ramos and Lee working back-to-back one-out walks to ignite a rally, and Matt Chapman chipping it with a single to load the bases.

Willy Adames broke the dam and got the Giants on board, hitting a very deep sacrifice fly that, while not quite a park robbery at the level of Tatis, would have been a home run in multiple ballparks.

It was run one but, just as critically, it was out two. Out two against a very good pitcher in Dylan Cease.

At which point Dominic Smith, signed just one day prior, endeared himself to his new fanbase. He did it first walking into the batter’s box while Mac Dre’s Feelin’ Myself played (for the Bay Area hip-hop heads, this came after fellow newcomer Daniel Johnson used a Larry June song because he couldn’t find a clean version of Mac Dre’s Since ‘84 ). And he did it next with the clutch hit that has eluded the Giants so much on this recent skid of offensive silliness.

But he had to work for it. Lord, did he have to work for it. He turned an 0-2 to a 3-2, at one point fouling off three consecutive pitches to do so, and finally, on the ninth pitch of the at bat, he one-hopped a ball into the seats, scoring Lee and Chapman, and giving the Giants the lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

It was part of a three-hit day for Smith, which is all the more impressive when you consider that his teammates only had three hits combined . The other two may not have led to runs, but they kept the line moving, kept the handshakes coming, kept the optimism rising, and gave hope that perhaps some regular offense isn’t all that far away.

Soon we’ll see if that’s the case. For now, we thank the reinforcements, tip our cap to Ray, and celebrate a 3-2 victory that somehow resulted in a series split despite it feeling like the Giants forgot how to play baseball this week.

Whatever works.