Third baseman Junior Caminero #13 of the Tampa Bay Rays scores on a squeeze play against the San Francisco Giants at Tropicana Field on May 03, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida.
Calvin Hernandez/Getty Images
San Francisco Giants’ Casey Schmitt, bottom, is out at second base as Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Taylor Walls, left, turns a double play during the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 3, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Jason Behnken/AP
San Francisco Giants pitcher Tyler Mahle throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Jason Behnken/Associated Press
San Francisco Giants’ Casey Schmitt flips his bat after striking out during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Jason Behnken/AP
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — There was plenty of action on the San Francisco Giants’ just-completed road trip, just a lack of wins.
For the second time in four days, Ryan Walker allowed the game-tying run, this time in the eighth inning, and minimal offense yet again bit the team, with a quick run in the first inning and nothing further. Eventually, and unsurprisingly, the Giants fell 2-1 in the 10th inning. Jonathan Aranda’s single sent in placed runner Chandler Simpson from second, giving the Rays the sweep and the Giants a winless six-game trip in which they were outscored 26-9.
The last time San Francisco was swept in an entire trip of two cities or more was July 21-27, 2022, at Los Angeles and Arizona, when the Giants went 0-7.
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The Giants appear to be ready to dip down to Triple-A Sacramento for some help, with both Bryce Eldridge and Jesus Rodriguez under serious consideration for a Monday callup.
A charitable read of the disaster of a trip is it’s the sort of thing that can bring a group together, particularly after a blown umpiring decision Saturday created team-wide displeasure, though it didn’t translate into much Sunday. Perhaps the Giants (13-21) will be able to look back and say, “That’s the point things turned around.” It’s tough to envision this team continuing on this poor of a trajectory — they’re in last place in the division, behind even the Rockies — but here they are.
“We literally have nothing to show for the road trip. You end the day searching for any positives,” said manager Tony Vitello, who came up with Caleb Kilian’s relief work for that category.
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San Francisco’s recent pattern is a major failure to string hits together, doing so only in that first inning, when first baseman Rafael Devers doubled off Steven Matz and Casey Schmitt followed with an RBI single. The Giants had plenty of baserunners, with three more doubles, even, but never managed two hits in an inning again.
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San Francisco
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
34
1
6
1
2
5
Ramos lf
4
0
1
0
0
0
.270
Devers 1b
3
1
1
0
1
2
.214
Schmitt dh
4
0
2
1
0
1
.308
Arraez 2b
4
0
0
0
0
0
.308
Chapman 3b
4
0
0
0
0
0
.246
Adames ss
4
0
1
0
0
1
.195
Lee cf-rf
3
0
0
0
1
0
.281
Encarnacion rf
2
0
0
0
0
0
.176
b-Gilbert ph-cf
2
0
0
0
0
0
.271
Haase c
4
0
1
0
0
1
.300
Tampa Bay
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
33
2
8
2
4
6
Simpson lf
5
1
0
0
0
2
.300
Caminero 3b
2
1
1
0
3
0
.264
Aranda dh
5
0
4
1
0
0
.252
Vilade 1b
3
0
0
1
0
2
.275
Fraley rf
2
0
0
0
0
1
.239
a-DeLuca ph-rf
1
0
0
0
0
1
.279
Williamson 2b
3
0
1
0
1
0
.244
Mullins cf
4
0
0
0
0
0
.127
Fortes c
3
0
1
0
0
0
.262
1-Palacios pr
0
0
0
0
0
0
.204
Feduccia c
1
0
1
0
0
0
.273
Walls ss
4
0
0
0
0
0
.191
San Francisco
100
000
000
6
1
Tampa Bay
000
000
010
8
0
No outs when winning run scored.
a-struck out for Fraley in the 6th. b-popped out for Encarnacion in the 7th.
1-ran for Fortes in the 7th.
E_Adames (4). LOB_San Francisco 6, Tampa Bay 11. 2B_Devers (6), Haase (2), Adames (11), Ramos (8). RBIs_Schmitt (15), Vilade (6), Aranda (28). SB_Schmitt (2). CS_Palacios (4). S_Vilade, DeLuca.
Runners left in scoring position_San Francisco 5 (Gilbert, Haase, Schmitt 2, Arraez); Tampa Bay 3 (Fraley, Mullins 2). RISP_San Francisco 1 for 11; Tampa Bay 1 for 6.
Runners moved up_Ramos. LIDP_Williamson. GIDP_Haase, Arraez.
DP_San Francisco 1 (Chapman); Tampa Bay 2 (Williamson, Walls, Vilade; Caminero, Williamson, Vilade).
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
5
4
0
0
1
5
92
5.00
0
0
0
1
1
15
1.29
1
1
0
0
0
0
9
2.63
1
1
1
1
1
0
14
4.61
1
2
1
0
1
0
15
0.60
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
6
4
1
1
2
1
89
3.86
2
2
0
0
0
3
26
3.60
1
0
0
0
0
1
11
2.70
1
0
0
0
0
0
8
5.87
Inherited runners-scored_Gage 2-0. IBB_off Kilian (Caminero).
ABS Challenge_Mahle (Ball-Overturned to Strike).
Pitch timer violations_Kilian (pitcher).
Umpires_Home, Nic Lentz; First, Vic Carapazza; Second, John Bacon; Third, Hunter Wendelstedt.
T_2:33. A_20,108 (25,025).
After the first inning, “I don’t think anything positive outcome-wise occurred twice in a row with any hitter,” Vitello said. “Despite some line drives and balls getting barreled in certain directions, I don’t think it was two at-bats that got stacked together that were quality-at bats.”
Walker, who blew the save in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader with the Phillies, came in in the eighth rather than the ninth Sunday and walked Junior Caminero to start things off. Aranda singled and, with men at the corners, Ryan Vilade put down a bunt and though Devers made a barehanded play and throw in one motion, he couldn’t get Caminero at the plate. Game tied, and the Giants went down 1-2-3 in the ninth, and, with the placed runner at second, in the 10th, too.
The Giants’ extreme offensive drought seems as if it cannot continue indefinitely, given the track records involved, especially their middle-of-the-order types, Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman. For the first time since July 28-Aug, 3, 2008, San Francisco didn’t homer on a trip of two or more cities. The Giants are 4-17 in games they don’t homer; they’re 10-3 when they do.
San Francisco averaged 1.5 runs per game on the trip. Chapman went 2-for-24, Adames 3-for-22, Devers 4-for-20 and Jung Hoo Lee 3-for-22.
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Much of the funk is baffling, particularly San Francisco’s league-low 69 walks — last year, the Giants had the sixth most in the majors and the only major change to the lineup was adding Luis Arraez (and Harrison Bader, currently on the injured list). Arraez doesn’t walk a ton, nor does he strike out — he’s too busy hitting the ball. That shouldn’t account for such an extreme dropoff for the entire club.
When almost an entire lineup is struggling, though, they’re not getting pitched around much. When traditionally slow starters such as Adames and Devers get going, theoretically the team will start walking a little more.
The Giants aren’t getting consistently good performances from new starters Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser — but both actually pitched well on the trip, a couple of solo homers aside. Mahle turned in nice work Sunday, with 5⅓ scoreless innings, and only an error on a double-play ball in the sixth kept him from going six. Houser appears to have figured out some mechanical issues and possible tipping problems. Logan Webb looks back to his usual self, and Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp are big plusses.
“We’ve got to play better in all facets of the game,” Mahle said. “We’ve got a long flight home and a long time to think about it, then tomorrow show up to the field ready to go with some energy and turn this thing around.”
The bullpen, two big whoopsies in Philadelphia on Thursday aside, has, if anything, performed better than expected.
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The offense is the reason for the Giants’ blahs, and if it continues, the options are: a radical lineup shakeup, including much more bench usage; bringing up some top prospects who’ve been hitting well, such as Eldridge and Rodriguez (given catcher Patrick Bailey’s struggles); or make coaching staff changes.
The problem there is that it can be interpreted as panic to make major changes; even giving a regular a day off can sometimes be perceived as a lack of faith. If a front office and coaching staff believe they have a good lineup, and the Giants do believe that, a shakeup can be worse than sticking with the primary group until they get going.
And using the bench becomes tougher because they’re not getting enough work to be sharp.
“It’s difficult for them to perform at their best when it’s coming in small portions, when they’re able to get out there,” Vitello said. “We feel like we’ve identified who the best guys are offensively for us on paper — I’m (making) myself subject to kind of get questioned on that, because we haven’t had the results, but as far as the potential to have the best offensive day.
“It’s honestly been a stressor from the first series, ‘How do we score, how do we score, how do we score?’ Maybe you (use) some guys more than you would, maybe you mix in fewer guys off the bench. You’re eager for runs, you’re searching for runs.”
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Being last in homers — just 19 in 34 games — is unexpected, certainly. Heliot Ramos’ disallowed homer off a catwalk at Tropicana Field on Saturday aside, the Giants didn’t hit one on the trip. Vitello suspects this is one of those “try-hard” situations.
“Maybe just indirectly guys see numbers online or on the scoreboard or social media and are searching for more extra-base hits,” he said. “I just think it’s overall a struggle at the plate for guys to do better, and in general. It’s known, you can’t ignore it. It’s out there.”