San Francisco Giants second baseman Luis Arraez (left), first baseman Rafael Devers (center), and third baseman Christian Koss (right) celebrate their win against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego on Thu Jul 30, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The San Francisco Giants (47-62) took on the San Diego Padres (55-54) Thursday night in the first game of their four-game series winning at Petco Park in San Deigo. The Giants have been on a roll lately taking a series off the first place Milwaukee Brewers earlier this week.

San Francisco continues to amaze at times losing to underperforming teams and going on to beat some pretty darn good ones. It certainly is puzzling, the ebb and flow of the team this season.

Thursday night they took on another very good team the Padres although they have struggled off and on lately. They did come into this game on a 5-game winning streak that the Giants put an end to.

San Francisco did score early, three runs in the first two innings something that they have struggled with for much of the season. Starting pitcher for San Francisco Robbie Ray was outstanding through six innings setting the stage for the win. The relief pitching for the Giants was equally solid in an impressive offensive and defensive game for San Francisco winning the opener 4-1.

GAME RECAP

The San Francisco Giants have struggled lately getting early leads but that was not the case tonight. They took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Rafael Devers sacrificed Heliot Ramos home.

They went on to score a couple more runs in the second inning with a great offensive at bat from Daniel Susac. Susac homered with Willy Adames on base giving the Giants a 3-0 lead.

The Padres would answer scoring a run in the bottom of the inning but that would be the only time they would score for the rest of the game. Xander Bogaerts singled Ty France home for a 3-1 deficit.

Starting for the Giants Robbie Ray would weave his magic through the next six innings winning his seventh straight start. He was impresssive snapping the Padres five-game winning streak. Ray gave up a few hits through the first three innings but pretty much breezed through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings when he was relieved by Caleb Kilian.

The Giants would tack on one more run in the fifth inning for the final 4-1 win.Susac who was instrumental in this win sacrificed Rafael Devers home for the final run and the Giants had won the first game of the four-game series.

GAME NOTES

San Francisco played an impressive game Thursday night. They jumped ahead early scoring in the first and second innings. Defensively they controlled the strike zone and the Giant’s pitching shut down San Diego’s middle of the lineup.

The Padres only got six hits in this game and the one run and their big bats were really absent, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. were unable to create any sort of rally. Something that has hurt the Giants this season has been big mistake innings and that was not the case Thursday night. They played some really clean baseball.

A huge reason for this win was the outstanding performance on the mound from Robbie Ray. He pitched six innings allowing the one run keeping the San Diego lineup off balance all night.

Ray’s command was excellent attacking the strike zone giving very few free baserunners. He did not overly rely on his fast ball but mixed it up. He got a lot of swings and misses as well as weak contact.

It is not a secret that San Diego has some dangerous hitters like Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr but Ray kept them at bay all night. This is just another example of why Ray has been one of the Giant’s most valuable pitchers this season.

He entered this game with a 3.16 ERA. In this outing Ray exposed one of the Padres biggest weakness. When San Diego falls behind early they have a lot of trouble stringing together enough quality at-bats making comebacks very difficult.

San Francisco finished the game with 11 hits. Rafael Devers had three hits with one run and one RBI. Susac was also impressive hitting the two run homer and had 3 RBIs. Nearly every player on the Giants roster had a hit in the game.

The Giants will be looking to win game two of the series continuing to score early with more solid offensive play. Their defense was solid today and they will need more of the same in game two looking to play an errorless game on Friday night.

Carson Whisenhunt will take the mound for San Francisco. He comes into the game with a 2-1 win/loss record and a 4.60 ERA. The Padres are still undecided as to who will take the mound Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 PM.