Robbie Ray’s pitch count neared 80 with a runner in scoring position in the sixth inning of Friday’s scoreless game. Two games into the season, San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello could have tapped into a fresh bullpen for a fresh arm and better matchup, or to take advantage of an open base, but this battle called for a challenge.
“You have two of the best guys in the league going at it,” Vitello said. “It was mano-a-mano.”
Aaron Judge had been 0-for-7 with five strikeouts as he walked into the box. Ray had held the New York Yankees to two hits, was coming off a five-pitch fifth inning, and struck out Judge his previous time up.
This at-bat took a swerve early, when Judge won an ABS challenge by a tenth of an inch and Ray was soon behind in the count 3-0.
He battled back to a full count and started hurling four-seamers, but one too many. Judge pummeled a 93 mph fastball on the inner part of the zone 404 feet just fair of the left-field foul pole for a two-run homer. Ray would have liked the fastball elevated a bit more.
“He happened to get me,” Ray said. “I feel like I had him thinking about it during the game and just went to the well too many times. I challenged him and I can live with that.”
Judge and Ray are familiar foes, overlapping as American League East rivals during Ray’s time with the Toronto Blue Jays, and Judge has historically been a challenging out for the lefty. All four of Judge’s career hits off Ray are home runs, with six walks, too.
Save for that one matchup gone awry, Ray looked much like he did during his dominant first half last year, a performance that earned him an All-Star nod. He struck out four, walked none and allowed two runs over 5⅓ innings with his delivery feeling in better shape than in 2025, he claims.
That showed most with his slider, which induced eight of the 11 swing-and-misses he generated.
“I felt like momentum was carrying me toward the plate,” Ray said. “Obviously threw some really good sliders. The biggest thing I can work on coming out of this is landing a few more curveballs, I felt like I was choking it and not getting it to the plate.”
The Giants are 0-2 to start a season for the first time since 2020 having trotted out their two premier starters. Logan Webb wasn’t sharp. Ray was. But the hole they’re digging out of the gate could get deeper as the bottom half of the rotation comes up next and competition gets thicker.
After the Yankees, the Giants head to San Diego for a three-game series, then return to face the revamped New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. Oddsmakers expect both to be in the postseason this year.
If Vitello can take any wins from these two ugly losses, it’s that every single reliever got into a game. Notably, Ryan Walker — a leading candidate to close — pitched the eighth inning. He struck out Judge on three pitches, walked Cody Bellinger and gave up a hit to Giancarlo Stanton before being removed for lefty Ryan Borucki for a lefty-heavy part of the lineup.
Matt Gage got the ninth inning for another string of lefties, pitching a scoreless frame.
The bullpen is a mixed bag of experience with high-leverage situations and the closer spot is unclaimed. President of baseball operations Buster Posey noted on Wednesday that Gage is among the group of Erik Miller, Walker and José Buttó who could get high-leverage innings. Butto surrendered a solo home run to Stanton shortly after Ray’s departure.