The San Francisco Giants have every reason to smile when left-hander Robbie Ray trots onto the field.
After all, they’ve won all seven of Ray’s starts this season.
The Giants hope that trend continues on Wednesday afternoon when they play the rubber match of their three-game series against the host Chicago Cubs.
Ray (4-0, 3.05 ERA) enters his team’s series finale coming off his best start to the season. He allowed just two hits and struck out a season high-tying eight batters over seven scoreless innings in San Francisco’s 4-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies last Friday.
“It’s something everybody knows now,” manager Bob Melvin said of his pitcher’s unbeaten streak. “We feel good when he takes the mound.”
Ray admitted he’s felt good with his role in his team’s success.
“We’ve been playing good ball,” Ray said. “It just kind of happened that way. I think overall we’ve been playing really good baseball. Each and every time, I’m trying to go out there and put up zeros and give my team a chance to win and just keep us in the ballgame. It feels good to be able to do that.”
Ray, 33, is 2-1 with a 2.31 ERA in six career encounters against the Cubs.
He certainly wouldn’t object to the offensive fireworks his team displayed during the 11th inning Tuesday as the Giants teed off on reliever Ryan Pressly in a 14-5 victory at Wrigley Field.
Heliot Ramos had an RBI double in the 11th inning to highlight his four-hit performance.
Jung Hoo Lee belted a two-run homer in the third inning and added an RBI single in the 11th.
Matt Chapman added a two-run single in the 11th to join Lee with a three-hit performance.
The late power surge sent San Francisco to its fifth win in its last six games.
As one might expect, Cubs manager Craig Counsell wasn’t interested in piling on Pressly after the contest.
“He couldn’t finish hitters, essentially,” Counsell said of Pressly. “That was it, and it snowballed a little bit.
“Look, the score doesn’t make it look like a good baseball game. It was a good baseball game. The 11th was not a good inning for us. We made a nice comeback, did some good things, then we had shots to win it.”
Chicago right-hander Ben Brown (3-2, 4.88) will be tasked with keeping the Giants in check when he makes the start on Wednesday.
Brown scattered four hits over six scoreless innings in a 10-0 romp over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.
That performance came on the heels of a disastrous effort against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 26. After that contest, Counsell didn’t sugar-coat his remarks, telling reporters that “We need better, frankly.”
Brown, 25, has yet to face San Francisco in his young career.
Chicago’s Dansby Swanson is 14-for-30 with three homers, five RBIs and 10 runs during his eight-game hitting streak.
Seiya Suzuki went hitless in five at-bats on Tuesday to fall to 1-for-18 in his last four games.
–Field Level Media
