San Francisco Giants’ Wade Meckler hits a single against the Tampa Bay Rays during the sixth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tue Aug 15, 2023 (AP News photo)

Tampa Bay (72-50). 000 000 000 – 0. 3. 2

San Francisco (64-56). 000 003 22x.- 7 9 1

Time: 2:15

Attendance: 26,322

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants this evening once more used an opener to get them through the early going of the second of this three game transcontinental battle of the bays. The task fell to John Junis, who was 3-3, 4.36 when the day started although he’d allowed only three earned runs in his previous 13-1/3 innings.

Junis pitched four shutout innings in San Francisco’s overwhelming 7-0 triumph over the Tampa Bay Rays tonight. In that stint, Judis faced 16 batters and allowed two hits and one base on balls while striking out seven. This performance brought his ERA more than a quarter of a run to 4.10.

Zack Littell, who started for the visitors, has been both a Giant and an opener. He went 5-2, 4.68 for San Francisco in 2021-22. Although this was his seventh start and 20th appearance of the season, it was only his fifth traditional start of the year.

Littell had walked just one batter in his last 33 innings of work. He relies on a mix of fast balls and about, throwing one or another of them about 72% of the time. Tuesday night, in his first appearance against his old team, Littell pitched an excellent game until he didn’t.

Littell lasted 5-2/3 innings and gave up two runs, both earned although the second was posthumous, on three hits, one of them a homer. He struck out five and didn’t walk anyone. He threw 59 pitches, 52 for strikes and was tagged with the loss, ending the night with a record of 2-4, 3.99.

With the game still a scoreless tie after four innings of play, Sean Manaea entered the fray. He pitched brilliantly, yielding only one hit and two walks over 3-1/3 innings to earn his fourth win against three defeats and lower his earned run average to 4.89. He was relieved by Tyler, the right handed Rogers twin, with one out in the eighth.

Thairo Estrada broke that tie with his one out line drive home run into the left field bleachers, over the SF Nothing Like It sign in the bottom of the sixth.. The blast was the Giants’ second sacker’s tenth round tripper of the year and travelled 374 feet.

The crowd had more to cheer about two batters later when Wade Meckler got his first major league hit, a single to center. that drove Littell from the mound. The rookie got his second safety lone inning later, beating the throw on a grounder to second.

But that wasn’t all. Wilmer Flores took Kevin Kelly, Littell’s replacement, deep on the first pitch he threw. It was almost a replica of Estrada’s four bagger, landing in the left field bleachers 373 feet from home. Just like that, the orange and black were ahead, 3-0.

They continued their attack in the seventh, loading the bases with none out on a single by Conforto, a walk to Bailey, and an error by the Rays’ first baseman, Yandy Díaz, on Blake Sabol’s grounder. Then the attack stalled But that didn’t stop the Giants from scoring twice more.

Crawford went down swinging. Estrada forced Conforto out at home on a grounder to third for the second out. Then Tampa Bay’s catcher, René Pinto, tried to pick Bailey off at third and threw the ball into left field, allowing Bailey and Héctor Ramos, pinch running for Sabol, to cross the plate. The seventh ended with San Francisco enjoying a 5-0 lead.

Erasmo Ramírez pitched the bottom of the eighth for Tampa Bay. He gave up Mecker’s second hit. Flores was retired on a soft liner to short. Meckler was forced out at second by Pederson. Then Conforto doubled to left, bringing Peterson home on a call that was reviewed and upheld. Ramos followed by a single to center that brought Conforto home for the Giants’ seventh tally.

Luke Jackson mopped things up in the top of the ninth. He struck out all three batters he faced.

Gabe Kapler was ejected by home plate umpire Chad Whitson in the top of the fourth for arguing balls and strikes. It was the second time this season that the skipper had received the heave-ho.

The rubber game of this three game series will starts Wednesday, afternoon at 12:45. The Rays expect to send righty Aaron Civale (5-3, 2.61) to the mound. The Giants haven’t yet announced their intentions.