For the second time in their home series against the Chicago White Sox, a four-run four-bagger secured a win for the San Francisco Giants.
Yesterday, Harrison Bader clapped one over the centerfield wall, and today, Rafael Devers supplied the echo, back-spinning to left to put the Giants ahead for good in a 8-5 victory.
The 3-4 hitters of Casey Schmitt and Devers combined for 4 extra base hits and all 8 runs batted-in. They doubled up on RBI doubles in the 1st with Devers rocketing one 403 feet off
the bricks in Triple’s Alley to take the lead in the 1st. Schmitt’s second 2-run homer in as many days — another echo — was his 11th of the year, and extended the Giants into the lead in the bottom of the 3rd.
Devers’ grand slam moment felt like déjà vu considering how similar the two slams were situationally. Both came after a Schmitt blast, both took flight in the 5th inning, and both were an immediate response to the Giants’ starter blowing a multi-run lead.
A barrage of hits from the White Sox on Saturday erased San Francisco’s 3-run lead and chased Adrian Houser from the game. For Robbie Ray, it was free passes and defensive misplays that allowed Chicago to level the score at 4-runs a piece.
In typical fashion, Ray supplied most of the offense for his opponents. He allowed just two hits over 4+ innings of work (including an 8-pitch leadoff homer to Chase Meidroth), but walked seven, inviting stress and initiating rallies for Chicago in the 2nd, 4th, and 5th innings. The first two batters in the 4th and 5th reached base thanks to Ray’s stubbornness around the zone, and three of those four runners came around to score.
To be fair: That wasn’t the only help the White Sox got — Edgar Quero’s game-tying single high-fived the mitt of an on-rushing and clearly out-of-control Jesus Rodriguez in left.
I’ve decided that watching Ray pitch is pretty infuriating. I felt similarly about Blake Snell, too. I’m certain they decided to become pitchers because they wanted to touch the ball the most. That’s like wanting to become a quarterback, or play basketball. Trust second basemen, don’t trust pitchers. Pitchers are egomaniacs. No doubt Ray and Snell were the kids during the recess wiffle ball game who ruined the fun by trying to strike everyone out with ridiculous risers and impossible trick pitches, who refused to lob the ball over the plate so other kids could hit, run the bases, make plays in the field, or, you know, enjoy themselves. The style of these “three true-outome” pitchers is all about control, and that’s not the same as being all about command. Balls in play are a crap shoot, so best to avoid the bat as much as possible. Throw that ridiculous submarine wiffler five-feet over the batter’s head — you won, they didn’t hit it! A strikeout is obviously the best possible outcome. A walk is just made up of perfectly good, hard-to-hit pitches a batter didn’t chase after. Chances are he’ll chase after him next time so just keep throwing them.
While it feels spiritually bankrupt at times, the style is a response to the type of hitter that’s prevalent these days. This is the world we’ve been living in for awhile now, Steven, so end the rant.
Okay, I’m ending my rant mostly because Ray’s inefficiency with the baseball didn’t cost the Giants the game and is good for a footnote. The seven walks he allowed were the most in his career (though he walked 6 batters in a game four times previous) and the most by a Giants starter since Tim Lincecum walked seven in a start against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013. Lincecum matched that BB total a year prior too in another game against LA.
Funnily enough the Giants won both just like they did today. Funny because handing out seven free passes has generally been a solid way to lose a baseball game. Dating back a decade to 2016, there have now been 63 games in which the starter has walked at least 7 batters, with the starter’s team going 21-42 (.333 winning-percentage).
More history. Between the years 1904-1911, Red Ames walked at least seven in 13 starts — the modern record for a Giant. Seven of those were complete games including one 16-inning performance. In those wild Ames games, the team posted a 7-6 record.
John D’Acquisto had 7 7+ BB outings in just three seasons through the mid-seventies. Shawn Estes had six in his career (the Giants were 3-3 in those starts), and five in three seasons from 1999-2001.
While seven walks in one game is a lot, it isn’t the craziest thing that’s happened on a diamond. Every pitcher gets a wild hair up their nose from time to time — but what’s interesting about 7-walk outings is that they often came about as the result of an extended workload. For Ames, 7 walks over 16 innings ain’t half bad! So how Ray packed all those in base-on-balls in just 4+ innings is pretty special. In fact, he’s just the 16th pitcher in Giants history to walk 7+ in 4 IP or fewer.
Barry Zito did it twice in 2007 and 2012. In 1997, William VanLandingham walked 7 — 4 in the 1st and 3 before recording an out in the 2nd inning. Ray faced 21 batters, VanLandingam just 11 — the Giants beat the Braves 6-4, improving their record to 31-21 on their way to winning the NL West.
Hey, that’s sort-a, kind-a close to the mirror image of the 2026 Giants current 22-31 record! That’s got to mean something… right?
