Jakob Junis and Sean Manaea combined to strike out 12 in 7 1/3 innings, Thairo Estrada and Wilmer Flores hit sixth-inning home runs and the San Francisco Giants pulled away late to beat the visiting Tampa Bay Rays 7-0 on Tuesday night.
One night after watching the Rays lash 18 hits in a 10-2 romp, Junis, Manaea, Tyler Rogers and Luke Jackson tag-teamed in a bullpen game on a three-hitter, allowing the Giants to win for just the second time in their past seven games.
Junis led the way, limiting the Rays to a pair of singles and one walk in four innings while striking out seven.
The right-hander left a scoreless game, and Manaea (4-3) kept the visitors off the scoreboard in his 3 1/3 innings, during which he allowed just one hit and two walks. He struck out five.
Manaea was credited with the win because he was the pitcher of record when the Giants opened the scoring with a three-run sixth. Estrada’s 10th home run of the season and Flores’ 16th, a two-run shot, sandwiched Wade Meckler’s first big-league hit to account for the uprising.
The scoring came after Giants manager Gabe Kapler had been ejected for disputing plate umpire Chad Whitson’s strike zone.
Estrada’s homer came off Rays starter Zack Littell (2-4), a former Giants reliever who worked the first 5 2/3 innings. He was pulled following Meckler’s single, after which Flores drilled Kevin Kelly’s first pitch into the left field bleachers.
Littell was charged with two of the runs and a total of three hits. He struck out five without issuing a walk.
The Giants pulled away with a pair of runs apiece in the seventh and eighth innings. Patrick Bailey scored from third and Heliot Ramos from second on an errant pickoff throw by Rays catcher Rene Pinto in the seventh before Michael Conforto doubled home a run and Bailey singled home another in the eighth.
Conforto finished with three hits, while Meckler, a 2022 draft pick who made his major league debut on Monday, added an infield hit in the eighth to give him a pair of hits.
The Rays went without an extra-base hit while getting shut out for just the fifth time this season.
–Field Level Media
