Robbie Ray, battle-tested Giants take aim at lowly Rockies

The San Francisco Giants apparently are more comfortable with nail-biters than blowouts.

San Francisco is setting the pace in the majors with 29 one-run games and played in its eighth straight such contest Tuesday night, winning 6-5 over the Colorado Rockies in dramatic fashion in Denver.

The Giants will go for their seventh straight victory on Wednesday with Robbie Ray (8-1, 2.44 ERA) pitching against Colorado's Kyle Freeland (1-8, 5.19) in a matchup of left-handers. San Francisco again won't have third baseman Matt Chapman available after he was placed on the 10-day injured list with a hand injury sustained on Sunday against Atlanta.

"The guys know that without Chappy we're missing probably the biggest piece of the lineup, but we know we have to grind and keep doing our best and obviously try to continue what we're doing," Willy Adames said. "The boys showed up with the right mentality. We're going to (have) his back, so whenever he comes back we're going to be in a good place."

San Francisco trailed 5-2 entering the ninth inning but scored for four runs.

"We're battle tested, and this, going forward, has to be good for us," said Giants manager Bob Melvin, whose team is 17-12 in one-run games. "It's not like we panic in these games, and with the bullpen doing what they do, we always feel like we have a good chance to win."

Ray has been Melvin's best pitcher this season. The 2021 American League Cy Young Award winner with the Toronto Blue Jays leads San Francisco in wins, and nine of his 13 outings have been quality starts. He is building on his strong May when he went 4-1 with a 1.38 ERA and pitched at least six innings in all six outings.

He tied his season high with nine strikeouts against Atlanta on Thursday and held the Braves to two runs over seven innings.

Ray will face the Rockies for the 21st time in his career -- second most behind his 22 starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is 6-6 with a 5.16 ERA in those outings, including seven shutout innings when he beat them May 2 in San Francisco.

Colorado continues its march to baseball disgrace after dropping its fourth in a row Tuesday night. The Rockies, at 12-54, are on pace to shatter the modern era loss record of 121, set last season by the Chicago White Sox. Colorado is on target to finish 29-133.

Part of the futility is because Colorado isn't as successful as the Giants in close games. The Rockies are 6-12 in one-run games.

"We want to win ballgames. Plain and simple," interim manager Warren Schaeffer said after Tuesday night's game. "Every loss hurts; every single one. We just need to remember these losses moving forward, learn from them and get better."

Colorado has one series win this season, which came in a sweep of the Marlins in Miami last week. Freeland completed the sweep with 6 1/3 shutout innings for his first win of the season.

He has faced the Giants 25 times in his career and is 8-7 with a 4.20 ERA in those outings. He has logged 13 quality starts against them, including May 1 in San Francisco, when he allowed three runs in six innings.

--Field Level Media