Devers begins to heat up as Giants start series vs. Pirates on strong note

SAN FRANCISCO — It wasn’t pretty. But it’s a win.

At this point, that’s good enough for the Giants, who staved off sole possession of the majors’ worst record Friday with a 5-2 win to start their series against the Pirates.

Robbie Ray walked four batters and was at 72 pitches through three innings, but the Giants’ starter buckled down to complete six frames.

Despite walking the bases loaded in the third, Pittsburgh’s only damage against the left-hander came on a solo shot from Marcell Ozuna.

Rafael Devers was the solo proprietor of runs for the home team until San Francisco finally broke through for some insurance in its third scoring opportunity of the evening.

Devers’ fourth home run of the season — his second in as many games — matched Ozuna blast-for-blast to tie the score at 1 in the bottom of the second. He singled and scored in his next at-bat to give the Giants a 2-1 lead that would hold up for Ray’s third win in nine starts.

San Francisco added on to its advantage with three runs off the Pirates’ bullpen in the seventh. The rally was started by another slumping slugger, Willy Adames, who added a second knock for his second multi-hit game since April 17.

It proved to be necessary insurance as the Pirates plated one run and brought the tying run to bat in the ninth. Caleb Killian was able to get out of the jam to earn his second save of the season.

What it means

Ray had been the recipient of some of the lowest run support in the majors (2.72 per game) but got more than enough against Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski.

With the Rockies’ extra-innings win over the Phillies, the Giants had to win to keep pace — with the second-worst team in the sport. Thanks to Colorado, San Francisco’s negative-42 run differential isn’t bottom of the barrel. That distinction belongs to the Phillies (minus-44).

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Who’s hot

The further away from April the schedule moves, the more Devers is beginning to look like himself. The slugger has officially begun to come out of a season-long slumber over his past eight games, recording hits in all of them while batting .346 (9-for-26) with a 1.041 OPS.

The most encouraging sign might be the pitches Devers is doing damage against. Both his home runs this week have come against fastballs. Over the course of his hitting streak, Devers is batting 6-for-14 against the hard stuff, a vast improvement over his .269 start to the season.

“When he gets going, we start rolling,” Ray said. “If he’s feeling good in the box, if he’s taking at-bats like that, he can carry a team. It’s good to see.”

Who’s not

The five-spot represented one of the best scoring outputs for the Giants this season — only the second time in their past 10 games they reached that modest total.

But it was hardly an all-you-can-eat buffet for their bats.

Most notably: A group that has taken, by far, the fewest walks in the majors went its third game in a row without working a free pass from an opposing pitcher.

There have only been 12 such stretches previously in the bicoastal history of the franchise. It has happened just once — early on in 2009 — dating back to 1976.

Still, San Francisco had no shortage of runners and still managed strand five on base.

The Giants haven’t done much hitting or running — last in the majors in both runs and stolen bases — but executed both at the same time to perfection in the third to give them runners at the corners. Luis Arraez rolled over into an inning-ending double play.

The following inning, Casey Schmitt and Devers led off with a pair of knocks, giving the Giants runners at the corners and nobody out. Schmitt was thrown out at home when he broke on contact on a grounder to third from Matt Chapman.

That was only the first out of the inning. The frame came to a close when Chapman, for no apparent reason, got caught between second and third on a single to center from Heliot Ramos. Devers, at least, was able to touch home plate before Chapman was tagged out.

Up next

The Giants will try to win consecutive games for the first time since the end of their last home stand. RHP Landen Roupp (5-2, 3.18) gets the ball against RHP Braxton Ashcraft (1-2, 3.02).