SAN FRANCISCO – A crowd of 40,000 at Oracle Park was treated to one of the best offensive games that the Giants have been able to muster this season.
Starting pitcher Robbie Ray was among those watching the offensive explosion, wearing a big smile as hit after hit lined the ballpark while runs piled up at a gratifying rate.
It was a perfect example of how good the Giants’ offense can be when all cylinders are firing.
“Man, it’s awesome,” Ray said. “If we can keep that going it’s going to be fun. It’s just fun to watch. When the hits are coming like that, it’s just a fun dugout to be in, it’s a fun environment.”
That hasn’t always been the vibe San Francisco’s dugout this season.
High expectations and a quick start to the season raised the bar for many fans and media, only to see those good vibes quickly fade away as the Giants’ offense sputtered through much of the summer.
Recently, however, that same offense has shown a lot of life.
Two days after scoring 12 runs amidst a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs, the Giants’ bats lit up the Bay Area sky once again with a resounding effort in a 15-8 win over the Baltimore Orioles that had fans dancing in the aisles like the good ol’ days at Oracle.
Ray said that the team as a collective had a tough time dealing with “outside noise” as the MLB trade deadline approached at the end of July.
That might have factored into the Giants’ seven-game losing streak in mid-August that pushed them to the brink of being an MLB playoff afterthought.
Now riding a six-game winning streak, San Francisco’s outlook is a little more positive.
While they remain six games behind the New York Mets for the third and final wild card spot in the National League, the feeling inside the Giants’ clubhouse was a lot more good-natured than it has been in previous days.
“Now we’re just playing baseball and trying to control what we can control each and very day and go about the process the way we can,” Ray said. “Guys are just doing a batter job of focusing on what they can control.”
Ray was able to find the silver lining on a night when his own contribution was minimal.
The start of the game was delayed briefly as manager Bob Melvin and a team trainer came out to examine Ray, who had previously developed a blister on his pitching hand. The blister had popped before Ray took the mound but the remaining dead skin remained and had to be cut off.
“Everything underneath was fine,” Ray said. “It wasn’t raw or anything so it was a non-issue.”
Regardless, the 33-year-old pitcher needed as much support as the Giants could muster. He allowed six runs – all earned – on six hits in just 4 1/3 innings.
“I don’t know that we’ve seen a game like this out of Robbie,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s going to happen every now and then. His stuff was better. It was just one of those games where he wasn’t as efficient with strikes and they made him work and throw a lot of pitches”
It didn’t matter much on a night when the Giants’ offense came out blistering and stayed hot the entire evening.
“We know we’re capable of it,” Ray said. “It’s just a little more focus and I feel like we had that tonight.”
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