San Francisco Giants starter Robbie Ray struck out nine Chicago White Sox at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tue Aug 20, 2024 (AP News photo)
Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024
Oracle Park
San Francisco, California
Chicago White Sox 1 (30-97)
San Francisco Giants 4 (65-63)
Win: Robbie Ray (3-2)
Loss: Davis Martin (0-2)
Save: Ryan Walker (2)
Time: 2:20
Attendance: 28,766
By Stephen Ruderman
The Giants have taken advantage of their easy schedule to get back on track, as Robbie Ray struck out nine over six strong innings, and the Giants beat the White Sox 4-1 to win their third-straight on Monday night at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
The Giants beat the White Sox 5-3 Tuesday night after the White Sox got the tying run to second base with two outs in the top of the ninth. It was a game that was much closer than it should have been against the historically-bad White Sox, but at least the Giants were able to get the win.
Tuesday night, the Giants looked to make it three-straight with Robbie Ray on the mound on this Tuesday night at Oracle Park. Ray started the night off with a one, two, three top of the first inning. White Sox’ starter Davis Martin also started his night with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first.
Ray threw another one, two, three inning in the top of the second, and then the Giants got something going against Martin in the bottom of the second. Matt Chapman and Mike Yastrzemski singled to put runners at the corners with one out.
Monday night, the Giants finally got the timely RBI hits with runners in scoring position in a four-run bottom of the fifth. They weren’t able to do that in the bottom of the second Tuesday night, but Thaiuro Estrada was able to beat out the back end of a potential 5-4-3 double play, and Chapman scored to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.
The White Sox had Dominic Fletcher at first with two outs for Lenyn Sosa, who hit a double that bounced off the wall in left-center field. Fletcher was waived in, and he was initially called out at the plate. However, the White Sox challenged the call, which was overturned, and the game was tied.
The Giants loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the third for Heliot Ramos, who walked to put the Giants back ahead. They had the bases loaded with nobody out and a chance to extend their lead, but being the Giants, they were unable to add on.
Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the fourth, and Ray pitched another scoreless inning in the top of the fifth.
Curt Casali led off the bottom of the fifth with a base-hit, and after Tyler Fitzgerald struck out, Martin was done. White Sox Interim Manager Grady Sizemore brought in Fraser Ellard, who immediately walked LaMonte Wade.
That put runners at first and second with one out for Ramos. Ramos knocked in a run with a bases-loaded walk his last time up in the third. Here in the fifth, he lined a base-hit up the middle that scored Casali to make it 3-1. It was the first RBI hit with a runner in scoring position for the Giants Tuesday night.
The Giants were unable to further extend their lead in the bottom of the fifth, but Ray responded with a one, two, three shutdown inning in the top of the sixth. The Giants then wasted an opportunity against Touki Toussaint in the bottom of the sixth.
Ray gave up a one-out base-hit to Gavin Sheets with one out in the top of the seventh. Ray then struck out Korey Lee, but Bob Melvin pulled him for Sean Hjelle, who got Miguel Vargas to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Ray was good Tuesday night, and much more consistent than Kyle Harrison was Monday night. Ray gave up just a run and three hits, while striking out nine over six and two thirds innings.
It seems like the Giants’ starters have been posting a lot of high strikeout totals in starts recently. That’s because they have, as the Giants are fifth in all of Baseball in strikeouts this season with 1,123.
Toussaint was back out for the South Siders in the bottom of the seventh. Ramos walked to start the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Mark Canha then walked, too, but Matt Chapman grounded into a double play.
The good news was that Ramos was still 90 feet away at third. Mike Yastrzemski got Ramos in with a ground-rule double that got stuck underneath the side wall down the right field line, and that made it 4-1.
Submariner Tyler Rogers pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, which would have been a one, two, three inning had Dominic Fletcher not reached on catcher’s interference to start the inning. Gus Varland then threw a one, two, three bottom of the eighth for the White Sox.
Ryan Walker didn’t pitch two innings last night, and in fact, he didn’t pitch it all last night, which meant he was free to pitch tonight. Walker indeed came in for the top of the ninth, and he struck out the side in a one, two, three inning to close it out.
Robbie Ray got the win; Davis Martin got the loss; and Ryan Walker picked up his second save.
A win is a win, but it would have been nice had the Giants done better than going 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position tonight. I am going to keep harping on that, because the Giants getting their act together and getting consistent key RBI hits with runners in scoring position is the only way they will be able to make a run at the Playoffs in September.
The Giants improve to 65-63, but they remain three and a half games back of the Braves for the third wild card. The Braves beat the Phillies 3-1 in Atlanta.
Wednesday, the Giants can get the sweep; win their fourth-straight; and get back to their season-high three games over .500 on a Wednesday getaway game. Giants’ ace Logan Webb (11-8, 3.17 ERA) will make what seems to be a rare start after a win, and he will be opposed by left-hander Garrett Crochet (6-9, 3.61 ERA). First pitch will be at 12:45 p.m.
National League Wild Card Standings:
- Padres 72-55 +4.0
- Diamondbacks 71-56 +3.0
- Braves 67-58 —
Mets 65-61 2.5
GIANTS 65-63 3.5
Giants News and Notes:
Patrick Bailey was placed on the Injured List prior to Tuesday night’s game due to a right oblique strain. Catcher Jakson Reetz was called back up.
The St. Louis Cardinals released former Giant shortstop Brandon Crawford. Crawford, 37, was unable to get a major league deal from the Giants, but he got one from the Cardinals and signed during Spring Training. In just 28 games, Crawford hit .169, going 12-for-71 with one home run and just four RBIs.
With the Giants’ connection to their former players, especially those from the world championship teams of 2010, 2012 and 2014, you can’t help but wonder if a potential reunion could be in the works.
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