ATLANTA — A little over 18 hours since Adrian Houser threw his last pitch of the bottom of the first, Robbie Ray started the bottom of the second with a grunt that bounced off the walls of a more than half-empty Truist Park early Wednesday afternoon.
In practice, Ray’s outing was pretty much just another start.
In reality, his 6 ⅓ shutout innings in a 7-2 win went down as only his fifth regular-season relief appearance of his career. And for a while, it looked like it might cost him a chance at a no-hitter.
Ray was set to start the Giants’ regularly scheduled second game of the series Wednesday night but was moved up to take over where things left off when the series opener was suspended the previous night following a delay of 1 hour, 52 minutes.
After pouncing on Grant Holmes the night before, the Giants were already up 3-2 when Ray threw his first pitch, and he wouldn’t allow an Atlanta hit until the seventh inning.
It was quite the reversal from their pitching fortunes early Tuesday night, after Houser was rocked for two runs in the first inning, including a 473-foot tank from Drake Baldwin.
The Braves stacked their lineup with lefties against Houser, which may have paid off initially but came back to bite them when it was Ray, a lefty, who took over when play resumed.
The Giants’ bats, on the other hand, picked up right where they left off after jumping on Holmes for seven base runners and three runs during the downpour Tuesday night.
Rafael Devers, Jung Hoo Lee and Willy Adames slugged solo shots that allowed Ray to pitch with a comfortable lead for most of the afternoon. Devers started things off with his 10th of the season in the fifth, and Lee went back-to-back with two outs to make it 5-2.
Adames added on another insurance run in the eighth with his 12th of the season.
Thanks to Ray’s strong effort, the Giants are able to enter the second game of the doubleheader and look ahead to the rest of their road trip without too many concerns about their pitching depth.
They won’t however, have a fresh closer after Tony Vitello called on Caleb Kilian in a non-save situation. Dylan Smith was in line to finish the game as the only reliever the Giants used, but he issued two consecutive walks with one down, prompting Vitello to bring in his closer with a five-run lead.
Despite allowing five runs in his last start, Ray looked to be moving in the right direction with his longest outing in more than a month and only his second this season without issuing a walk.
Ray took that progress and built on it against the Braves.
The only base runners Atlanta mustered against Ray until Austin Riley led off the seventh with a double were two lone walks, neither of which made it past first base.
Leaning on his sinker over his four-seamer, Ray’s eight strikeouts were his most in 15 times toeing the rubber this season and his 6 ⅓ innings of relief represented his second-longest outing of the year — his first time completing six or more innings since May 8.
It had only been a little more than a week since Adames’ last home run, but it might as well have been a year. Between his two-homer game in the Giants’ opening game at Wrigley Field and his solo shot in the eighth, Adames had been 1-for-31 with 11 strikeouts.
Likewise, Devers’ home run was also only his second of June while batting an equally poor .161 (9-for-56). Neither player is exactly making it easier to move their hefty contracts as the Giants reportedly listen to offers for their highly paid, underperforming stars.
A short break, and then the second game of the double header. Both teams can add a 27th player, and the Giants used their roster spot on Carson Whisenhunt, who will make his first start of the season in the nightcap against the Braves’ regularly scheduled starter, JR Ritchie.
Whisenhunt was named the Pacific Coast League’s pitcher of the month for May and is 5-2 with a 3.65 ERA in 14 games (13 starts) — 2.76 dating back to his last start of April.
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