Ray puts a bow on masterful June with second straight 8-inning gem

SAN FRANCISCO -- Robbie Ray capped a dominant June by allowing only one unearned run over eight innings to lead the Giants to a 3-2 win over the Braves in Sunday afternoon’s series finale at Oracle Park.

It marked the second consecutive start of at least eight innings for Ray, who improved to 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA over five starts this month. The 34-year-old veteran has permitted only two unearned runs over his past three appearances, becoming the first Giants pitcher to allow no earned runs over a three-game span since Matt Cain from Sept. 2-14, 2006.

Ray’s marvelous stretch has coincided with a notable shift to his pitch usage. He has been known primarily for his four-seam fastball over his career, but he used that pitch sparingly (7%) against the Braves, opting to instead incorporate more of his sinker (38%), changeup (26%) and slider (23%).

“It was kind of the game plan going into the game to throw more sinkers than four-seams,” Ray said. “Just kind of picking spots for the [four-seam]. But honestly, I was getting early outs early on in the game, so there wasn’t really much room for it.”

Ray still plans to throw his four-seamer moving forward, but he believes using more of his sinker has helped him pitch deeper into games on a more consistent basis.

“I think it's a different look to the fastball,” manager Tony Vitello said. “Now instead of a bunch of foul balls, you’re getting some induced contact early in at-bats. It’s a different pitch, and it’s different sequences for the hitter and all that stuff, but I think it’s led to more early contact in at-bats, shorter at-bats, him getting deeper into games.”

Ray’s surge is coming at a good time for the Giants, as he’s an impending free agent who should draw plenty of interest from other teams leading up to the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline.

Sunday’s victory secured a winning homestand for the Giants (35-48), who went a combined 4-2 against the A’s and Braves. They’ve now won back-to-back series for the first time since winning three in a row from April 17-26, giving them some positive momentum as they prepare to kick off a six-game road trip through Arizona and Colorado.

Ray and Atlanta left-hander Chris Sale each put up zeros through the first five innings before the Giants finally broke the stalemate with the help of some sloppy defense by the Braves in the bottom of the sixth.

Luis Arraez led off the inning with an amazing inside-out swing on a 2-2 slider from Sale, resulting in a 61.1 mph grounder that rolled just inside the third-base line for an infield single. Heliot Ramos, who was activated off the 10-day injured list on Sunday, followed with another single to put a pair of runners on with no outs for Rafael Devers.

Devers sent a tapper to third that was fielded by Austin Riley, who made an errant throw that got away from first baseman Matt Olson, allowing Arraez to score from second as Devers reached on an infield single.

Jung Hoo Lee kept the rally going with the Giants’ fourth single of the inning, which also didn’t leave the infield. He hit a two-out grounder to the right side that was corralled by second baseman Ozzie Albies, who spun around before throwing wide of Olson at first base. Albies’ error brought home Ramos from third, extending the Giants’ lead to 2-0.

“It was good to see guys grind out at-bats,” Vitello said. “You need to be able to win in a bunch of different ways.”

San Francisco added an insurance run in the seventh, when Drew Gilbert singled, advanced to third on a double by Matt Chapman and scored on a sacrifice fly from Arraez.

Ray looked as if he might have a chance at going the distance when he took the mound in the top of the eighth with his pitch count at 77. But he had to work a little harder to get through his final inning after Chapman committed an error on a routine grounder from Eli White, who ended up coming around to score an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Michael Harris II.

Ray ultimately departed after allowing only four hits while walking one and striking out two in the efficient 95-pitch outing (56 strikes).

Closer Caleb Kilian took over in the ninth and allowed the Braves to pull within one after Olson doubled and scored on an RBI groundout by Riley, but he struck out former Giant Mike Yastrzemski swinging to end the game.