Once again San Francisco Giants starter Robbie Ray throws to the Tampa Bay Rays line up at the Tropicana in Tampa Bay in the opening game of the three game series on Fri May 1, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

After getting swept by the Philadelphia Phillies this week the San Francisco Giants (13-19) lost their fourth game in a row losing to the Tampa Bay Rays (19-12) 3-0 at the Tropicana in Tampa Bay. The Giants couldn’t get much offense going at all. It’s just more frustration for San Francisco as they watch their season record plummet. They only had six hits in the game and seldom had two runners on base in an inning.

Game recap: There was not a whole lot going on in the first inning for either team. The Giants went three up three down and the Rays had a single. Chandler Simpson had that single but was thrown out stealing second.

The Rays were first up on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning. Yandy Diaz hit a solo home run to right for an early 1-0 lead. Tampa Bay would add to that in the fourth inning with another long ball off the bat of Junior Caminero another solo home run for a 2-0 lead. The Giants went three and out in both the third and fourth innings. San Francisco had a very sluggish start in this game.

The Giants got some offense going in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth inning they got a couple of hits and left Rafael Devers stranded on third base. They also got a hit in the sixth but the inning came to an end when Heliot Ramos grounded into a double play. San Francisco had generated some offense but had nothing to show for it.

The Rays would score another run in the bottom of the sixth inning extending their lead to 3-0. Taylor Walls doubled followed by a Simpson sacrifice. Walls scored on that sacrifice and the Rays had it all going on going into the seventh inning while San Francisco was running out of time to make any impact in this game.

Giants starting pitcher Robbie Ray finished 6.1 innings allowing 4 hits, 3 runs (2 home runs) striking out 5. He was relieved by JT Brubaker who took over in the seventh inning. The Tampa Bay starting pitcher Shane McClanahan went six innings before being relieved by Ian Seymour in the seventh inning.

The Giants had a single in the seventh inning but you are not to go anywhere if you can’t string out some hits. This game was headed in the wrong direction for the Giants. Going into the eighth inning San Francisco was looking at not only a loss but possibly a shutout. The Rays had gone three and out in the bottom of the seventh.

It was just at a standstill for the Giants going three and out in the eighth. With two outs in the ninth inning, it was up to Luis Arraez to keep this game going. He ground out and that was the ball game with the Rays winning. This was the seventh shutout this season for San Francisco as they drop to a season record of 13-19.

Game notes: Friday evening, the Giants traveled to Tampa Bay for a three-game series with the Rays. The Giants have lost four games in a row getting swept this week by the Phillies and losing the opening game of the series to Tampa Ray.

The Giants lost both ends of the doubleheader Thursday on walk-offs. San Francisco had some great opportunities in the late innings of both of those games but just couldn’t pull off a win in either.

On Friday in Tampa Bay, Giants pitcher Robbie Ray once again started and threw a game good enough to win but didn’t get the run support in the 3-0 loss. Ray went 6.1 innings, allowed four hits, three runs, and five strike outs. For Rays starter Shane McClanahan a quality start pitching six innings allowing five hits and struck out five.

The Giants need to generate offense if they plan on winning any games in this series. These guys have some great hitters on their roster but the offense is just stagnant right now.

The Giants plan on starting Landen Roupp in game two of the series on Saturday. He has been pitching well and comes into the game with a 5-1 win/loss record and a 2.55 ERA. The Rays will start Jesse Scholtens (2-1 ERA 3.20). First pitch for this game is scheduled for 3:10 PM PDT Saturday afternoon.