SAN FRANCISCO – After introducing Rafael Devers to Bay Area media earlier in the day, the Giants had plenty of chances to make it a fantastic evening all the way around but stranded seven runners on base over the final four innings and wound up losing 3-2 to the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday at Oracle Park.
Devers, acquired in a trade from the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, had a nice debut and was greeted warmly by Giants fans, but that was about the extent of the good times on the shore of McCovey Cove.
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SIGN UP HERE Starter Robbie Ray threw six uneven innings and lost for the second time in four starts. He allowed all three runs that the Guardians scored.
It’s only the third time that the Giants (41-32) have lost in the 15 games Ray has started this season.
Cleveland (36-35) got to Ray for single runs in the third and fourth innings, but it was Gabriel Arias’ one-out home run in the sixth that provided the deciding run.
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Devers and Willy Adames had two hits apiece to lead the Giants' offense. Devers and Dominic Smith drove in both of San Francisco’s runs.
The Giants got the tying run into scoring position in each of the final four innings but failed to advance them. San Francisco finished the game 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Left fielder Heliot Ranos had an impressive play to keep the game close in the top of the ninth when he caught Angel Martinez’s fly ball and then made a dynamic throw home to get Arias out sliding across the plate. The play was reviewed and upheld.
Not all the news was bad.
Justin Verlander is expected to come off the Injured List and start on Wednesday.
Here are the takeaways from Tuesday’s game:
Devers at the dish
The two-time Silver Slugger award winner, whose arrival in town was expected to boost San Francisco’s up-and-down offense, got the Oracle Crowd roaring when he lined an RBI double into the gap in right-center, scoring Adames.
Devers, who received a standing ovation earlier in the game when he struck out swinging in his first at-bat, crushed a 2-0 fastball from Guardians starter Slade Cecconi to drive in Adames, who scored from first base after drawing a walk leading off the frame. The ball was smoked into Triples Alley and Devers took full advantage with his speed to get into scoring position.
Devers struck out swinging again in the fifth, hit a soft dribbler back to the pitcher in the seventh with two runners on base in the seventh and then hit a one-out single in the ninth.
Ray's Day
The veteran lefty who has been the Giants' best pitcher this season suffered through a second consecutive rough outing after being in Cy Young mode for the first two months of the season.
The numbers alone on Ray’s stat line were not up to his standard – six innings, five hits, three runs, five strikeouts and two walks – while throwing 102 pitches, the second-most that he has had this season.
This one went beyond the numbers.
Ray has had a significant mound presence for most of the season but that was missing Tuesday. The Guardians were aggressive at the plate and squared up several hard-hit balls off Ray. Four of the Rays’ hits had an exit velocity of 99 mph or higher, including the Gabriel Arias home run in the sixth that left the park at 107.3 mph.
Although Ray would never cop to it, fatigue might be an issue. Ray lasted five innings, raising his total this season to 86 1/3. That’s more than double the workload that Ray has had in three of his previous five seasons
Signs of life
Slowly but surely, Adames is getting more and more comfortable at the plate and it’s showing.
With three home runs in his six games preceding Tuesday, Adames has been on his best roll of the season. He stayed warm at the plate against Cleveland with two singles and a walk.
It’s only the seventh time in the Giants’ 73 games this season that Adames has reached base three times or more. That’s not a huge deal, with the trade for Devers coinciding with Adames’ comfort at the plate, the prospects for San Francisco’s offense are looking a lot more promising than they were a week ago.