Robbie Ray's uninspiring Padres playoff start shows SF Giants didn't miss much

Robbie Ray spent roughly two full seasons pitching for the SF Giants if you combine the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2026. He never made a playoff start for San Francisco, but his rough outing for the San Diego Padres on Saturday night against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the NLDS shows the Giants probably didn’t miss out on too much.

Ray only made it through 2 and 2/3 innings. He gave up two earned runs on a home run to Jackson Chourio and walked two batters while allowing four hits and striking out just one. He was not fooling Milwaukee’s lineup and he’s lucky that his final line wasn’t worse as he left the bases loaded when he was pulled from the game in the third inning.

Really, his performance was not too surprising because his numbers with the Padres in the regular season after San Francisco dealt him at the trade deadline were not very good. He had a 5.02 ERA in nine starts and gave up 27 walks in 43 innings while only striking out 33 batters.

The Giants have seen Ray leak oil in the second half before. 2025 saw him deliver an All-Star-worthy first half before he declined in the second half and just seemed to be running on fumes by the end of the season.

That makes San Francisco’s decision to trade him even sweeter as they got two interesting prospects in the deal with right-handed pitcher Miguel Mendez and shortstop Joniel Hernandez who may go on to help the Giants someday while Ray figures to go elsewhere in free agency.

Ray can still turn things around for Padres if he gets another chance

While Saturday wasn’t a great outing for Ray, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that Barry Zito, who I wrote about recently, had a nearly identical start for the Giants in the 2012 NLDS. He went 2 and 2/3 innings while giving up two earned runs in Game 4 against the Cincinnati Reds but the Giants’ offense bailed him out by scoring eight runs and they won 8-3.

So Ray wouldn’t be the first veteran left-hander to exceed expectations in the playoffs if he ends up delivering a start for the ages in the NLCS. 

Still, his struggles are a reminder that the Giants never really had enough pitching to be competitive the last few seasons. Logan Webb as an ace is a great start, but for a team to win in the playoffs a guy like Ray needs to be a No. 3 or No. 4 starter. Maybe if the Giants had been more aggressive in landing a No. 2 and No. 3 guy to slot between Webb and Ray rather than being content with them as their top two and adding No. 4 guys like Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser then things would have gone a bit differently.

Either way, it’s too late now and all the Giants can do is learn going forward and try to improve the starting rotation by any means necessary. 

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