'Vintage Robbie': Ray strikes out 9 in bounceback start vs. Sox?

SAN FRANCISCO -- Robbie Ray rebounded from his shortest start of the season by delivering his longest yet for the Giants.

The veteran left-hander pitched into the seventh inning for the first time since returning from Tommy John surgery, carrying the Giants to a 4-1 win that clinched a series victory over the White Sox on Tuesday night at Oracle Park.

Ray couldn’t get out of the first in his last outing against the Braves on Wednesday, allowing five runs over two-thirds of an inning while struggling to find the strike zone. The 32-year-old had more success attacking hitters on Tuesday, yielding only one run on three hits while walking none and striking out nine over 6 2/3 innings.

“I felt good,” Ray said. “I was excited to get back out because I’ve been working on some stuff over the past week. I was just itching to get back out there and try it out.”

Ray went back to the drawing board following his clunker against Atlanta -- which matched the shortest start of his 11-year career -- and focused on making some tweaks to his delivery to ensure he could stay more fluid on the mound in subsequent starts.

“The delivery was different tonight,” Ray said. “You probably noticed I was more square to home plate. Being able to get into my turn and ride it down the mound, that was the biggest thing. My direction towards the plate was way better tonight. That’s something I had worked on in my bullpen in between starts. I was able to carry it into this game.”

Ray had to grind through the first inning after each of the first three batters he faced worked a full count, but he retired the side in order, coaxing a flyout from Lenyn Sosa and striking out Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi.

“They made me work there in the first inning, but I kind of buckled down and just gave it my best stuff,” Ray said.

The lone blemish for Ray came in the third, when Dominic Fletcher singled and scored from first on Sosa’s two-out double to the warning track in left field. Fletcher was initially called out after Heliot Ramos and Tyler Fitzgerald teamed up on a nice relay to the plate, but the ruling was overturned after a replay review showed that Fletcher managed to slide in just ahead of Curt Casali’s tag.

“It was really, really close,” Casali said. “I saw the replay, and I feel like I had to go get the short-hop, and when you do that, your glove comes up a little bit. I didn’t have enough time to come back and tag him. Just a half-second too late. It was a good relay, just a bang-bang play. They got the run, but fortunately, that was the only one they got.”

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Manager Bob Melvin said he was comfortable turning the game over to the bullpen once Ray got through six innings on 81 pitches, but the former Cy Young winner convinced him to let him return to the mound for the seventh.

“I think for me and BoMel, we have a line of communication open,” Ray said. “We’re very honest with each other. He asked me how I was doing and let me know kind of where I was at. I just told him to let me go out there and empty the tank because I still had some more in there.”

Ray struck out Andrew Vaughn to open the seventh, but he surrendered a one-out single to Gavin Sheets and was removed after getting Korey Lee to swing through a 94.7 mph fastball. He departed after throwing 96 pitches and walked off to a standing ovation.

“That was really good,” Melvin said. “That’s kind of vintage Robbie there. No walks, nine strikeouts. Fastball top of the zone. Good breaking ball for chase and for strikes at times. He kept his velo up the whole game. ... I really didn’t want him throwing 100 pitches after last time, but man, that was really good. You would expect a guy like him to respond after a tough outing.”

Ramos drew a bases-loaded walk and added an RBI single to knock in half of the runs for the Giants (65-63), who have now won three straight and will have a chance to complete a three-game sweep of the MLB-worst White Sox behind ace right-hander Logan Webb on Wednesday.