Robbie Ray’s gem leads the Giants over the Rockies 4-0
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Robbie Ray held the Colorado Rockies to two singles over seven innings and the San Francisco Giants ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-0 victory Friday night.
Coming off its first consecutive wins this season, Colorado lost for the 17th time in 20 games, dropped to a big league-worst 6-26 and was blanked for fourth time this year.
Ray (4-0) struck out eight, walked two and allowed only one runner to get into scoring position. The 2021 AL Cy Young Award winner with Toronto needed only 86 pitches.
Hayden Birdsong gave up one hit over the final two innings to complete the first shutout of the season for San Francisco’s pitching staff.
The Giants got to Antonio Senzatela (1-5) for three runs in the second inning. The key hit was an RBI double by LaMonte Wade Jr., who entered with a .123 batting average.
San Francisco third baseman Matt Chapman was in a 6-for-44 slump when he came to the plate in the third. Chapman took Senzatela deep to left for a solo home run, his sixth homer of the season.
The game lasted only 2 hours, 2 minutes.
Key moment
Colorado had runners at the corners with two outs in the sixth before Ray got Hunter Goodman to ground out to Chapman at third to end the threat.
Key stat
San Francisco has won each of Ray’s seven starts this year. That’s the longest season-opening streak for a Giants starter since Bill Swift’s 11 starts in 1992. Swift led the NL with a 2.08 ERA that year.
Up next
It will be a matchup of right-handers Saturday with Colorado’s Bradley Blalock (0-1, 10.29 ERA) opposing San Francisco’s Jordan Hicks (1-3, 6.12).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
By STEVE KRONER
Associated Press
