By Jack Loder
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As Robbie Ray walked off the mound after firing a scoreless eighth inning on Sunday, he quietly made Giants history. Ray became the first San Francisco starter to go 8+ innings without surrendering an earned run in back to back starts since Tim Lincecum. Not Matt Cain, not Madison Bumgarner, not Logan Webb. None of those Giants’ stalwarts on the bump ever pieced together back to back outings of eight innings without an earned run.
Ray acknowledged how dialed in he is right now following Sunday’s victory. He’s won a Cy Young, but the way he’s pitching right now might eclipse even that level from the southpaw.
“I feel good. I feel really good,” Ray said in his typical calm demanor. “There’s still things to build off of, but I’m in a really good spot right now.”
Over his last three appearances, Ray hasn’t allowed an earned run. He’s tossed 22.1 innings over that stretch, striking out 17. In no uncertain terms, Robbie Ray has been one of baseball’s best pitchers since his final start in May. This is a very good development for the Giants, just probably not the 2026 Giants.
As the trade deadline looms roughly five weeks away, Ray is becoming more and more appealing to contending teams looking to fill a gap in the middle of their rotation. He’s arguably the Giants’ most tradeable asset, especially considering Buster Posey told reporters that the team is not listening to trade offers for Logan Webb, who’s actually been similarly hot on the bump.
Tony Vitello payed diplomat on Sunday afternoon when asked about the possibility of Ray being dealt at the deadline.
“No, I don’t see that, there’s been no talk of that,” Vitello replied when asked if Ray’s success was “bittersweet” knowing he may be traded in a month’s time. Ray took the standard response when asked the same thing moments later.
As long as the Giants continue to lose, every promising performance from a trade eligible player will be met with speculation of what the player could return in a prospect haul.
