SF Giants offense comes alive in 7-2 victory over Atlanta

ATLANTA — A little over 18 hours since Adrian Houser threw his last pitch of the bottom of the first, Robbie Ray started the bottom of the second with a grunt that bounced off the walls of a more than half-empty Truist Park early Wednesday afternoon.In practice, Ray’s outing was pretty much just another start.In reality, his 6 ⅓ shutout innings in a 7-2 win went down as only his fifth regular-season relief appearance of his career.And for a while, it looked like it might cost him a chance at a no-hitter.Ray was set to start the Giants’ regularly scheduled second game of the series Wednesday night but was moved up to take over where things left off when the series opener was suspended the previous night following a delay of 1 hour, 52 minutes.After pouncing on Grant Holmes the night before, the Giants were already up 3-2 when Ray threw his first pitch, and he wouldn’t allow an Atlanta hit until the seventh inning.It was quite the reversal from their pitching fortunes early Tuesday night, after Houser was rocked for two runs in the first inning, including a 473-foot tank from Drake Baldwin.The Braves stacked their lineup with lefties against Houser, which may have paid off initially but came back to bite them when it was Ray, a lefty, who took over when play resumed.The Giants’ bats, on the other hand, picked up right where they left off after jumping on Holmes for seven base runners and three runs during the downpour Tuesday night.Rafael Devers, Jung Hoo Lee and Willy Adames slugged solo shots that allowed Ray to pitch with a comfortable lead for most of the afternoon.

Devers started things off with his 10th of the season in the fifth, and Lee went back-to-back with two outs to make it 5-2.Adames added on another insurance run in the eighth with his 12th of the season.Thanks to Ray’s strong effort, the Giants are able to enter the second game of the doubleheader and look ahead to the rest of their road trip without too many concerns about their pitchin...