Game Wrap 8/18/2025: Giants 4 Padres 3

 A 3-homer, 4-run outburst in the first inning was all the scoring Robbie Ray and the bullpen needed for a wire-to-wire win.  Key Lines:

Heliot Ramos LF- 2 for 5, HR(15).  BA= .267.  Ramos led off the game with a HR, his first since July 5. Before the game Ramos found himself having to explain comments he made sounding like a complaint about lack of fan support.  If that's what he meant it's laughable as the fans continued to fill the park during the darkest days of the recent home slump.  If you look at the context and his explanation the point he tried to make was the players are aware of fans frustrations with Bob Melvin and continue to support him.(more on that later).  

Rafael Devers 1B- 1 for 4, HR(24), BB.  BA= .257.  Thanks to McCovey Chronicles BlueSky feed for noting this is the 5'th time the Giants have gone B2B to lead off a game and 4'th in the San Francisco era.  1958- Whitey Lockman and Willie Kirkland, 1964- Chuck Hiller and Duke Snider(Duke Snider played for the Giants?  I didn't remember that), 2015- Nori Aoki and Joe Panik.  MCC feed also pointed out that Devers in-zone swing rate is down and his called strike rate is up significantly since the trade suggesting a change in approach with worse results.  I think it was also MCC or maybe Bluesky Jeff who noted that Giants flyball percentage jumped starting with the FZ era and is even higher this season with fewer home runs.  So the Giants hitting approach seems to be take more in-zone pitches and hit more balls in the air.  The results are more called strikes and a lower BABIP without an increase in HR's, probably due to park factors.

Wilmer Flores DH- 1 for 3, HR(13), BB. BA= .248.  Wilmer's 2-run shot capped off the scoring in the first inning and the game for the Giants.  It was just his second HR since June 7.

Robbie Ray LHP- 6.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K's, 105 P.  ERA= 2.85.  Did Bob Melvin leave Ray in a batter too long?  Ray gave up a 1-out double to Xander Bogaerts followed by a throwing error by Casey Schmitt and a fly ball out, leaving a run in, 2 outs, a runner on 3B and a lefty-hitting PH, Ryan O'Hearn coming up.  He hit a 2-run HR to cut the lead to 1 and Melvin then went to Ryan Walker.  Defensible but when Ray loses it, he tends to lose it fast and he was getting to the end of his pitch limit plus he's only pitched 34 innings over his last two seasons with a surgery mixed in.  On the other hand, Melvin is short of reliable late-inning arms after the trade deadline.

Ryan Walker RHP- 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 3.81.

Randy Rodriguez RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(4).  ERA= 1.63.  The two best late-inning relievers went 2.1 IP and recorded just 1 K.  Rodriguez in particular appeared to lack a strikeout pitch.  Tyler Rogers RHP and Camilo Doval RHP had the same issue before they were traded.  Maybe late-inning relievers who pitch to contact is the latest undervalued asset but it's not ideal when runners are in scoring position with less than two outs and it's a huge disadvantage in extra-inning games.

All's well that ends well.

Kai-Wei Teng RHP gets a chance to bounce back from his last disaster start facing Nick Pivetta RHP.  Didn't he face Pivetta last time?  Yikes!