Robbie Ray builds on strong May, leads Giants to series split vs. Padres

Evan Webeck, Bay Area News Group on Jun 5, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SAN FRANCISCO — The month of May was good to Robbie Ray.

So far, June looks no different.

Ray matched his season-best strikeout total, passed Paul Skenes on the National League leaderboard and powered the Giants to a split in their four-game series with the Padres on Thursday. In his first start since being named the National League’s pitcher of the month, Ray struck out nine over seven innings in a 3-2 win.

Newcomer Dom Smith knocked in a pair with a ground-rule double that capped a three-run third inning to give San Francisco the lead, and Camilo Doval bounced back from his blown save in Tuesday’s loss by stranding the tying run on third base for his eighth save in 11 opportunities.

All four games of the series were decided by one run, with the Giants picking up their 13th such win of the season, tied for the MLB lead.

Ray froze Martin Maldonado with a 95-mph fastball for the second out of the fifth inning and his final strikeout of the afternoon, which gave him 87 for the year, trailing only teammate Logan Webb (91) and three others for the most in the National League. Ray’s 8-1 record is also the best in the majors, while his 2.44 ERA isn’t far off.

Come July, the 33-year-old left-hander just might find himself in Atlanta.

Ray has been an All-Star only once — representing the Diamondbacks for the National League in 2017 — but is putting together his best case to participate in the midsummer classic since at least his 2021 Cy Young campaign with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The lone runs he allowed to the Padres came on one swing from Manny Machado, who deposited a hanging breaking ball into the left-field bleachers to open a 2-0 lead in the third inning. But Ray responded by retiring the next 12 hitters and faced the minimum over the remainder of his seven innings.

The home run was the first allowed by Ray in eight starts and snapped the longest homerless streak of his career. Before Machado’s two-run blast, no opponent had taken Ray deep since Caleb Durbin’s solo shot in the second inning on April 21, a stretch of 51 innings.

Ray was at 94 pitches after six innings, but manager Bob Melvin sent him back out for the seventh, which he retired in order with the help of an outfield assist from Jerar Encarnacion. He fired a rope from left field to nab Jose Iglesias trying to stretch his line drive off the wall into a double for the second out.

It was the eighth straight time Ray has completed at least six innings, going seven in five of those outings. Dating back to April 21, the last time he went fewer than six innings, Ray has a 1.70 ERA and 62 strikeouts while limiting opponents to a .175 batting average over 53 innings.

The Giants began the season by winning the first nine games Ray started but had lost two of the past three times he’d taken the mound, scraping together four total runs across the three games. They had been held to four or fewer runs in 16 straight games before breaking out in a 6-5 win Wednesday but responded with just enough offense to climb out of the 2-0 hole Machado put them in in the third.

Smith, making his second start at first base since signing as a free agent this week, fell behind 0-2 but fought off three foul balls and laid off three more pitches outside the strike zone before ripping a two-out, two-RBI double that bounced over the wall in right-center field.

Smith added a pair of singles to finish the game 3 for 4, matching the most hits the Giants have gotten from their first basemen this season.

Knizner debuts

After Daniel Johnson made his mark with a pair of hits and a running catch in Wednesday’s win, which also featured Smith in his first game at first base, the third piece of the Giants’ roster shakeup made his debut Thursday as one former N.C. State catcher gave way to another.

Andrew Knizner never overlapped with Patrick Bailey at the Raleigh, N.C., university but joked that he “laid all the groundwork” for Bailey, who played for the Wolfpack from 2018-20 before being drafted by the Giants 14th overall in 2020 and received the day off.

“I showed him what not to do,” Knizner chuckled, turning and pointing to the Gold Glove trophy in the locker to his right. “I remember the first time I heard (Bailey’s) name. I was talking to (NC State’s coach), and he was like, ‘Yeah, we’ve finally got a great defensive catcher coming into the program.' ”

Knizner, a seventh-round draft pick by the Cardinals in 2016, signed a minor league deal with San Francisco three weeks ago after exercising an opt-out clause in his contract with the Nationals. In 31 games between Sacramento and Washington’s Triple-A affiliate, Knizner was batting .378 with a 1.032 OPS.

Up next

The Giants wrap up their homestand by hosting the Atlanta Braves for three games beginning Friday. RHP Hayden Birdsong (3-1, 2.37) is scheduled to start the series opener against RHP Spencer Schwellenbach (4-4, 3.13), with first pitch set for 7:15 p.m.