San Francisco’s Robbie Ray will oppose Pittsburgh’s Andrew Heaney in a matchup of veteran lefties on Wednesday afternoon when the Giants and the host Pirates play the rubber match of a three-game series.
Ray (9-5, 2.85 ERA) is coming off one of the best performances of his second All-Star season. He allowing one run — a solo home run by Pete Alonso — on four hits and one walk while striking out six over seven innings against the New York Mets on Friday.
Ray left with a no-decision, however, after a Giants’ bullpen, which was fresh from dealing with the departures of late-inning relievers Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers via trades, surrendered a two-run lead in the eighth inning before prevailing in 10 innings.
Ray will look for his first win since July 3 when he takes the mound against the Pirates, who have 10 victories in their past 14 games.
The left-hander, who did not pitch last week as the Pirates swept a three-game series in San Francisco, is 2-2 with a 4.78 ERA in six career starts against Pittsburgh. Ray said after his most recent start he has not lost faith that the Giants can make a last-ditch run at the postseason.
“We got ourselves in this situation, but we still have the big pieces that we brought in,” Ray said on Friday. “We didn’t do a major overhaul. This team is still good enough to win.”
The Giants have won three of their past five to get back to .500. They put together one of their better efforts on Tuesday, mustering 11 hits in an 8-1 victory — their first in five meetings with the Pirates this season. Every batter in the San Francisco lineup recorded a hit.
San Francisco will look to carry that offensive surge to its matchup against Heaney, who has allowed the most earned runs (60) and home runs (21) of any Pirates pitcher this season.
Heaney (5-9, 4.89 ERA) is aiming for a bounce back from a rough performance against the league-worst Colorado Rockies on Friday in Denver.
Despite his teammates storming out to a 9-0 lead in the first inning, Heaney didn’t last long on the mound, pitching only 3 1/3 innings and allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk while striking out one. The damage the Rockies did to Heaney kickstarted their memorable comeback, which ended with a 17-16 Colorado victory.
Heaney was much better in his most recent home start. He allowed only two hits over five scoreless innings in a 2-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 26.
Heaney, who was also considered a potential trade piece before the deadline, did not pitch against the Giants last week. He is 1-4 with a 5.84 ERA in eight career starts against San Francisco.
Pirates manager Don Kelly said of what impresses him about Heaney, “Yeah, just watching him work every day and the way he goes about it, seeing the way he’s been able to add arm slots, change speeds, mix things up, and just the way he’s been able to bounce back from tougher outings so to speak.”
Four Giants hitters have homered at least once in their careers against Heaney, including Willy Adames, who has two in 18 career at-bats. Andrew McCutchen has had the most success of any projected Pirates starter against Ray with two home runs and three RBIs while going 7-for-21 (.333).