SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants made a long-term bet when they acquired Robbie Ray from the Mariners ahead of last season.
They knew Ray would miss the first half of the 2024 campaign while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, but they felt confident the veteran left-hander would be able to come back and recapture the elite form that netted him the 2021 American League Cy Young Award.
Fifteen months later, Ray appears to be proving them right.
Ray battled some command issues while facing his former team on Saturday night, but he still managed to work six innings of one-run ball to help the Giants clinch a series victory over the Mariners with a 4-1 win at Oracle Park.
Ray gave up four hits and issued five walks, but he worked around traffic by picking off two runners and ultimately limited the damage to a fifth-inning solo shot by Dylan Moore.
“There are a lot of really good hitters over there, so I knew I had to be at my best tonight,” Ray said.
Jung Hoo Lee and Matt Chapman -- the Giants’ No. 3 and 4 hitters -- went a combined 5-for-8 with four doubles and four runs scored to back Ray, who improved to 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA over his first two starts of the year.
After extending their winning streak to six games, the Giants are now 7-1 to start the season for the first time since 2003.
The Giants and Mariners were frequent trade partners under former president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, though the Ray acquisition already seems to be the move that's aging the best for the Giants. San Francisco sent Anthony DeSclafani and Mitch Haniger to the Mariners to complete the deal, though neither remains in the Majors.
DeSclafani was immediately flipped to the Twins and didn’t pitch last year after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right elbow. Haniger slashed .208/.286/.334 with 12 home runs in 121 games for Seattle in 2024, but he was released during Spring Training with a year left on his contract.
Ray, meanwhile, is expected to be a key part of the Giants' rotation now that he's healthy. He continued to be fastball-dominant (62%) while facing the Mariners for the second time since the trade, but he also mixed in his knuckle-curve, changeup and slider and ended the night with eight swinging strikes in the 88-pitch outing.
“I had a game plan going in, and we stuck with it,” Ray said. “The offspeed stuff was really good. The curveball was sharp tonight. The slider was good. The changeup was really good. I think it allowed me to pitch with my fastball when I really needed it. It kind of kept them off the heater tonight.”
Ray’s ability to get through six innings and deliver his first quality start of 2025 was huge for the Giants, who were a bit short in the bullpen after burning through eight pitchers in their marathon 10-9, 11-inning win in Friday’s series opener.
“He knows how to pitch,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He gave us six innings today, which was needed.”
Like Ray, Lee is also getting a chance to show what he’s fully capable of now that he’s back from the left shoulder injury that limited him to only 37 games as a rookie last year. The 26-year-old Korean star raced back to make a nice catch on Donovan Solano’s deep drive to the warning track in center field in the second inning and then got the offense going by delivering the Giants’ first hit of the game in the fourth.
Lee pulled an 0-1 splitter from Seattle right-hander Bryce Miller just inside the first-base line for a one-out double and then stole third to set the table for Chapman, who followed with another double that deflected off the glove of Moore at third. Chapman later scored on a two-out single by Mike Yastrzemski, extending the Giants’ lead to 2-0.
“If I get on base, I just know that something is going to happen,” Lee said via interpreter Justin Han. “Having Chappy and [Heliot] Ramos back there is pretty good.”
Lee and Chapman hit back-to-back doubles again in the sixth, sparking a second two-run rally that helped provide some extra cushion for San Francisco.
With his second career three-hit game, Lee is now batting .321 with an .887 OPS and three stolen bases over his first eight games of the season, an encouraging start for a player who faced some questions about his ability to adjust to Major League pitching after making the jump from the KBO last season.
“I’m super impressed,” Chapman said. “I never had a doubt, personally. I know how hard it can be to come back after missing a whole year. It is impressive that he’s been able to just be so consistent right away.”