SF Giants waste Robbie Ray’s gem, lose to White Sox

The Giants continue to tread water in the National League West falling - on the road Saturday to the Chicago White Sox with the bats for the the greater part part staying silent in the games since the pact for designated hitter Rafael Devers An excellent outing by starting pitcher Robbie Ray went for naught with the Giants getting handcuffed by Chicago starter Adrian Houser and reliever Grant Taylor The Giants hopeful of rectifying a - homestand with a potentially favorable road trip to Chicago Arizona and Sacramento fell to - after winning the series opener Friday night Chicago which has nine rookies on the roster and could have its third straight season of or more losses is - Andrew Benintendi drove in the lone run for Chicago with a wall-scraping solo home run in the sixth inning against Ray his th of the season Made a mistake the guy hits a home run Ray reported reporters afterward Solo home runs usually don t beat you In current times it did Ray - got the last out of the inning and was done for the day giving up one run on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts Ray threw pitches of them strikes It was a typical Robbie match Giants manager Bob Melvin informed reporters He gave up a home run to a left-handed hitter but that shouldn t beat you when you pitch like that Houser - who threw seven innings for the first time since when he was with the Milwaukee Brewers gave up four hits with a walk and five strikeouts He was replaced by Taylor in the eighth inning who worked the last two innings for his second save Taylor retired all six batters he faced Hew threw just pitches for strikes Chicago right fielder and former Giant Austin Slater leaps to take an extra-base bid from outfielder Jung Hoo Lee in the second inning A P Photo Devers finished -for- and struck out twice He is hitting -for- in games with two home runs and five RBIs since joining the Giants The Giants did next to nothing until the sixth inning when No hitter Brett Wisely singled with leadoff batter Christian Koss also hitting a single Houser worked the count to - on Devers then balked the runners to second and third Then accident struck Houser struck out Devers with catcher Edwin Quero picking off Wisely off third base on strike three It s the latest in a rash of Giants baserunning errors which contributed to their - homestand Houser retired Ramos on a fly to center for the third out capping an inning where the Giants had runners at second and third with their best hitters coming to the plate and ending up with nothing to show for it They got only two runners in scoring position over the lesson of the match and didn t get a hit I mean we re trying to be aggressive and do particular things to result from runs Melvin explained In this episode it backfired Ray looked at it as the key play of the championship That s a tough situation getting the strikeout and thrown out at third base on a back pick like that Ray commented Got a great hitter in Ramos coming up and if he hits a fly out to center it s a sac fly It did feel like a momentum shift for sure The White Sox failed to add another run in the seventh against Erik Miller when Michael A Taylor narrowly missed a home run that bounced off the top of the fence and then was called out at the plate on a single by Josh Rojas when he failed to touch home plate Catcher Andrew Knizner alertly applied the tag after a strong throw from Mike Yastrzemski Related Articles SF Giants begin -game road trip with win over White Sox SF Giants option Hjelle to Triple-A recall Carson Seymour from Sacramento SF Giants frustrations continue after being swept by Marlins SF Giants frustrations extend beyond loss to Marlins after three batters plunked SF Giants CEO Larry Baer says Barry Bonds statue on the radar NOTES Former Giants outfielder Austin Slater robbed Jung Hoo Lee of extra bases with a leaping catch in right field for the third out of the second inning Lee came in hitting just -for- with two RBIs in his previous games Lee countered with a sliding catch of his own in center field to take extra bases from Josh Rojas with a runner on third Justin Verlander - is still in search of his first win as a Giant and rd of his career as the Giants close out the series Sunday in Chicago The Giants fell to - in games decided by one run