SF Giants have been unbeatable with former AL Cy Young winner on the mound

Veteran SF Giants pitcher Robbie Ray earned his sixth win of the season on Tuesday in a 10-6 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has made nine starts, and the Giants remain unbeaten when he starts.

SF Giants have been unbeatable with former AL Cy Young winner on the mound

Justin Verlander might need to take a page out of Ray's back, as he remains the only winless Giants starter in the rotation. Verlander remains stuck at 262 career wins, and is not any closer to 300 wins despite picher better over his last five starts.

Baseball is a funny sport sometimes. Logan Webb has not had much luck in his career when it comes to wins. He did have a 15-win season in 2022, but he has pitched better than his record would indicate in recent seasons.

On the other hand, Ray has thrown the ball well and gotten plenty of run support. The left-handed pitcher has registered a 3.04 ERA, 3.76 FIP, 1.25 WHIP, 9/8 K/9, and a 2.12 SO/W rate through nine starts this season.

Ray's command was shaky to start the season, but he has shown improvement. He has issued more than two walks in just one of his past four starts. That has not slowed down the Giants' lineup when he is on the mound. The offense has put up at least five runs in five of his nine starts. And, they have not scored no fewer than three runs in the other four starts.

Pitcher wins does not carry the weight it once did. Some pitchers struggle, but the offense helps them get the win. Others throw well with little run support. It is not necessarily indicative of a pitcher's performance.

That said, it must feel good to help lead your team to victory. Ray has done that plenty of times this season. The southpaw pitcher has positioned himself to be in the running to win 20 games this year. It takes a lot of good pitching, some help from the offense to do it, and it also might be too early to be talking about 20 wins in the first place.

The last Giants pitcher to win 20 games in a season was in 1993. They had two pitchers reach that mark. John Burkett tallied 22 wins while Bill Swift registered 21 wins that year. We will not discuss how that season ended.

The Giants have gotten close a couple of times since then. Shawn Estes won 19 games as a 24-year-old pitcher in 1997. Madison Bumgarner won 18 games in back-to-back years in 2014 and 2015. Can Ray finally end that drought?