San Francisco Giants pitcher Robbie Ray pitches to the Washington Nationals line up in the bottom of the third inning at Nationals Park in Washington DC on Sun May 25, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Despite having a fairly quiet offensive game, the San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals 3-2. San Francisco pitcher Robbie Ray went six innings and continued his brilliant play picking up his seventh win against no loses. A lot of credit to the San Francisco bullpen which is the best in baseball right now and has been a huge part of their success.

Game recap: San Francisco got their bats working early taking a 1-0 lead into the second inning. Willy Adames grounded out to the pitcher allowing Wilmer Flores to score for the first run of the game and the San Francisco 1-0 lead.

The Giants carried the offensive momentum into the third inning scoring two more runs and taking a 3-0 lead. Sam Huff hit a home run to left center for the first third inning run. San Francisco extended that lead off a Heliot Ramos ground out sending Michael Yastrzemski home for the 3-0 tally.

The Nationals scored their first run of the game on a Ray wild pitch in the third inning. Nasim Nunez got the Nationals up on the scoreboard with the Giants still leading 3-1.

San Francisco did not score for the rest of the game coming away with only five hits as they continue to struggle offensively. They stubbornly hung onto the 3-1 lead going into the ninth inning. The Nationals threatened in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Giant’s Ryan Walker was the closer in the game giving up two hits and one run. The Nationals James Woods doubled in the ninth inning and CJ Abrams scored their second run threatening to at least tie up this game. After Walker gave up two doubles, he shut Washington down getting out of the inning closing out the game with a 3-2 San Francisco win and also a series win.

Despite the win in this game, the Giants continue to look for more success offensively. The home runs have quieted down and the bats have been sluggish. While a win is a win, San Francisco needs to start closing out games with a lot more hits.

As expected Ray was brilliant on the mound with his contagious energy and solid pitching.

Game notes: Sunday afternoon the Giants wrapped up their series with the Nationals. After being shut out in Saturday’s game 3-0 the Giants were looking for a whole lot more offense but just got enough to win it on Sunday.

In game two on Saturday San Francisco only had three hits while the National’s had eight. Giant starter Robbie Ray whose been excellent all season pitched six innings, gave up three hits, one earned run and struck seven with an ERA of 2.56 was the winner now 7-0. Nationals starter Michael Soroka pitched six innings allowing five hits, three earned runs, one walk, and two strike outs for the loss.

The Giants will now take the energy from this series win into Detroit on Monday where they will face the Tigers in a three game series in what will be three challenging matchups. The Tigers are second in all of baseball with a great pitching staff. San Francisco will have to get the bats going. They will start Hayden Birdsong (2-0 ERA 1.91) while the Tigers will send Keider Montero coming into this game with a 1-1 win/loss record and a 5.28 ERA. First pitch for this Memorial Day matchup is scheduled for an early start 10:10 AM.