SAN FRANCISCO — With one swing, Casey Schmitt got the ultimate redemption.
After making outs on the bases in each of the Giants’ past two games, including one early on Saturday that cost them a run, Schmitt quickly made the 38,589 inside Oracle Park forget all about it.
Schmitt’s base-running error looked pivotal when he came to the plate with the score tied at 1 in the sixth inning against the Marlins. It became irrelevant as soon as the rocket off his bat landed in the left field for a tie-breaking two-run home run that proved to be the difference in a 6-2 win.
Robbie Ray labored through five innings, pitching around three walks and traffic on the bases in all but one of his frames, but did enough to earn the decision despite his pitch count sitting at 74 after three.
What it means
The start was Ray’s sixth of the season and the fifth time he’s taken the ball following a loss. Ray helped stop a losing streak for the third time, improving his record in those starts to 3-2 with a 2.30 ERA.
The win was the Giants‘ first over the Marlins at Oracle Park since August 2024, snapping a six-game home losing streak that was tied for the eighth longest against a single opponent since the ballpark opened in 2000.
Who’s hot
Schmitt has been one of the Giants’ best hitters early this season despite starting the year as a bench bat. He had been in a bit of a rut, 4 for his last 21 entering the game, but his third home run of the season raised his OPS to .854, the best mark of any of San Francisco’s regulars.
Second on the leaderboard is Jung Hoo Lee, who reached based three more times — including a pair of doubles — to raise his OPS to .773. Lee slugged a solo homer in his last at-bat the previous night and is batting .404 (21-for-52) with seven extra-base hits dating back to the start of their last road trip.
Drew Gilbert and Heliot Ramos each added solo home runs as the bottom half of the lineup contributed the bulk of the Giants’ offense. Through the first two games of this series, the Giants’ 5-9 hitters have combined for 15 hits and eight RBIs (.429 BA) opposed to seven hits and two RBIs from the top four of their order (.200 BA).
Who’s not
Despite his contributions at the plate, Schmitt has made two costly — and strikingly similar — mistakes on the bases the past two games.
Lee’s first double in the second inning should have put the Giants ahead 1-0, but Schmitt had been erased at second base after initially hustling in safely on a bloop hit down the left-field line.
Schmitt made the turn at second and lost his footing. He attempted to scramble back to the bag, but he couldn’t make it back before the throw from Kyle Stowers.
Schmitt pounded the ground in frustration. For good reason: The play almost exactly replicated the way he made an out the previous night, overrunning second base on an infield chopper from Lee.
Up next
The Giants will go for their third consecutive series win in the rubber match on Sunday. They will have RHP Landen Roupp (4-1, 2.28) on the mound against RHP Max Meyer (1-0, 3.96) in the series finale.
