SF Giants’ strange day in Atlanta boosts chances of both fire sale and turnaround

The trade deadline is approaching, and the questions about whether the SF Giants will be sellers or buyers are as loud as ever. For the time being, halfway through June and with 86 games left on the schedule, the focus should be on two things: maximizing the value of the tradable players and stacking up as many wins as possible, just in case this season is salvageable. On Wednesday, both boxes were checked, in both games.

In a unique situation after the initial series opener was suspended, the Giants responded in the best way imaginable by winning two games in one day against the best team in baseball.

First, by outscoring the most efficient bullpen in the majors five runs to nothing, which earned them their first win of the day, 7-2. And a few hours later, by showing off their renewed power, winning the second game 7-5. The Giants extended their winning streak to three games, nothing too flashy on paper. But they've yet to record a four-game winning streak this season. They'll have another shot at it Thursday weather-permitting.

Robbie Ray showed up and showed out

Once the game finally was suspended Tuesday night after an almost two-hour long delay, Tony Vitello and his coaching staff went straight back to the drawing board to figure out their pitching strategy. With the Braves' lineup filled with lefties — as it was initially supposed to face Adrian Houser, who owns a 1.042 OPS against left-handed hitters — Vitello decided to go with Robbie Ray and his 1.06 career WHIP against lefties, instead of going with a bullpen game like the Braves did.

On Tuesday morning, Truist Park — the home of the Atlanta Braves — stood as one of the four major-league ballparks Ray had never picked up a win in. Six and one-third shutout innings later, there were only three left on the list. The 34-year-old had not thrown six innings since his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 8. Yesterday, not only did he pitch through the fifth inning for the first time in six outings, but he also recorded a season-high eight strikeouts and allowed just two hits.

Just three days after Logan Webb put together his best outing of the year against the Cubs at Oracle Park, Ray followed suit by doing the same. Giants manager Tony Vitello couldn't help but draw comparisons between the two former All-Stars.

"To me it was a left-handed version of what Webby did before we got on the plane," Tony Vitello said. "The offense certainly did a good job of swinging the bat but, in my opinion, I felt like they were feeding off the vibe of how he was throwing a little bit."

Productive performances from Ray have the power to benefit the Giants in many ways. On one hand, the better Ray pitches, the bigger the return becomes if the front office decides to pull the trigger before the deadline. On the other hand, this lineup has proven time and again it has the resources to win games if given a chance, something Ray and this rotation have failed to provide on a consistent basis.

Prior to the doubleheader, in the 60 games Webb didn't start, the rotation posted a 4.93 ERA and 1.41 WHIP and owned a 14-30 record. Despite the rumors, Ray is more focused on helping improve those numbers than worrying about his future.

"I'm just trying to go out and give my team a chance to win every time," Ray said postgame. "I'm not on social media. I got four kids so I'm very rarely ever on my phone so I don't really pay attention to that. It's not gonna surprise me if something does happen but it's not like I'm sitting thinking about 'man where am I gonna go.' "

This lineup can be dangerous, very dangerous

A lot of names have been floated as trade candidates recently. Even veterans with big, gaudy contracts like Willy Adames and Rafael Devers have been viewed as possible trade chips. Maybe that was what they actually needed, as both players drove the ball over the fence at least once yesterday. Devers did it in the fifth inning of Game 1. Adames did it twice, once in each game.

Luis Arraez, Bryce Eldridge, and Jung Hoo Lee also went deep during the day, bringing the home run total to six over the two games. They went back-to-back twice. First, it was Devers and Lee, and then Arraez and Eldridge. Arraez recorded his 29th multi-hit game of the season, while Eldridge extended his on-base streak to 22 games. The 21-year-old slugger's OPS is up to .963, just like Shohei Ohtani's.

Everything appears to be clicking offensively. Since closing out April with the fewest runs scored and the fewest home runs in the majors, this group of hitters has been on a tear. Since May 1, the Giants rank sixth in home runs, with 60, and ninth in runs scored, with 206. Eldridge's emergence has a lot to do with that sudden surge, and the good news is that his name hasn't been on any of those lists — and it won't be anytime soon.

"It's baseball. I think you need an appropriate sample size to really start putting value on things," Vitello said on the offense' resurgence since April. "I think the ability to drive the ball out of the park or extra base hits has always been there, and unless all of a sudden a guy aged 10 years or something like that, it's not gonna go anywhere either."

Arraez and Ray might end up somewhere else. Both might just be on other teams when the calendar hits August 3, or they might not. The Giants have a chance to become the first team this season to sweep the Braves in a three-game series. That should be the focus. The rest will unfold on its own.

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