The San Francisco Giants will attempt to end one of the worst homestands in franchise history the same way they started it — with a win — when they seek to avoid a sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon.
After recording a pair of wins that featured Nick Fortes igniting a late rally by getting hit with a pitch and Yandy Diaz providing go-ahead hits, the Rays have three straight victories near the end of a grueling 12-game trip.
Tampa Bay right-hander Ryan Pepiot (8-9, 3.86 ERA) knows all about pitching away from home. He is scheduled to make his fifth consecutive road start Sunday in the series finale, having found ways to turn living out of a suitcase weeks at a time into a positive.
“It is a little different. You don’t sleep in your own bed. You don’t have your own laundry right there with you,” Pepiot said recently. “But you get to go to some cool ballparks, go to cool cities, explore and enjoy it and try to make the most of it.
“It’s still baseball. Still the same thing. We start (the game) hitting instead of pitching, but it’s fine. We’re just trying to put series win after series win.”
Pepiot contributed to a pair of series triumphs earlier in the trip when he won games against the Los Angeles Angels and Athletics. The Rays already clinched a third series win by virtue of their victories on Friday and Saturday over the Giants.
The 27-year-old will make his second career start against San Francisco, against which he has gone 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in two total appearances.
Pepiot will see a Giants team that has lost seven games in a row on a nine-game homestand that was supposed to be a springboard into contention in the National League wild-card race.
Instead, the Giants, with 15 losses in their last 16 home games, have endured their worst-ever home sequence, erasing the New York Giants’ 1-14 home stretch in 1901 from the franchise record books.
Manager Bob Melvin has alternated Drew Gilbert and Grant McCray in right field during the Tampa Bay series and plans other changes.
“You go out there and continue to try to play,” Melvin said earlier this week. “You probably take a look at different complements, like we are at this point in time. We might be at a point where we give guys days off and look at some other guys. I still hate to admit we’re at that point.”
Even staff ace Logan Webb (10-9, 3.34 ERA) has been unable to stop the slump. The Giants have gone 1-4 in the right-hander’s last five starts, including a 4-1 loss Monday to the San Diego Padres on this homestand.
The 28-year-old made his only career start against the Rays on the road last April, allowing one run in seven innings in an 11-2 win.
–Field Level Media
