Ray, Encarnación continue to impress in 9-5 win against Angels

Thanks again, Tarik!

The San Francisco Giants picked up their fifth win of Spring Training with a 9-5 win over the Angels.

In what appeared to be a starting line-up resembling something we’ll see for many more days to come, the Giants put up 8 runs in the first three innings against pitchers Jose Soriano, Jose Fermin and Camden Minacci.

Some clutch hitting by Jung Hoo Lee (2-3, 2 R), Matt Chapman (1B, RBI) and Jerar Encarnacion (2-3, 5 RBI) capitalized on six free baserunners provided by Los Angeles pitching. Luis Matos capped off the scoring with the game’s only homer (his first) in the 7th off SF alum Shaun Anderson.

Notable performances

Robbie Ray

After giving up a single on the first pitch of the afternoon, Robbie Ray retired the next nine Angels hitters he faced, six of those by way of the strikeout.

Swings-and-misses are a given with Ray on the mound. An impressive nine strikeouts over a five inning stretch is almost expected for the veteran, but what’s been absent in his first couple of spring starts is the nastier flipside to the K-coin, the walk. He’s yet to issue a base-on-balls in his two appearances. It’s March 2nd and command of his fastball looks to be April-ready. Ray didn’t just attack the zone, but parsed the plate, doing well to work both north and south of the outer-third against both righties and lefties. Velocity appears to be coming along nicely as well, reportedly touching 96 MPH in the 1st inning.

Arguably the best news from the outing was how Ray continued to effectively weave his Tarik Skubal aided changeup into his mix. It’s a type he’ll use primarily against righties giving him a different velocity to play off the fastball and some armside action to offset the movement of the diving slider. It’s a little tricky to identify pitch-types without pitch-specific data for these Cactus League games but he coaxed three consecutive swings-and-misses from Jorge Soler to close out the 1st, and at least one of those low-away offerings registered to my eye as the offspeed. Jo Adell swung over another to end the 2nd.

After two brief showings over the past week, Ray’s change-up is already becoming a known entity. Early signs suggest the veteran lefty returning to form in 2025.

Jerar Encarnación

A day after his 2-run homer punched the batter’s eye at the Dodgers’ AZ encampment, Encarnación continued to clobber, driving in five runs on two hits on Sunday afternoon. With 2-outs and the bases loaded in the 1st, the Giants outfielder lined a first-pitch fastball over Nelson Rada’s head in right to give San Francisco an early 4-0 lead.

Yes, the double reaped the benefits of a tough noon sun and a general spottiness of outfield defense, but there’s not much one can say to take away from the quality of contact. Encarnación is a big man with easy power to the opposite field. And it’s not a fluke — we saw this display of power during his brief stint in San Francisco last season. He clearly understands that he doesn’t have to pull the baseball to hurt it. Seeing the ball deep makes him a dynamic threat in the box when the game calls for a more nuanced approach in the box than knocking the snot out of the baseball.

In the 3rd, he put another ball in play with two-outs and runners in scoring position. This time the contact was on the ground but hit away from the jaws of the defense. The first baseman handled the grounder well off the line, initiating a foot race between Encarnación and pitcher Fermin forced to cover first. The Giants’ big right-hander beat out the Angels’ big right-hander to the bag, allowing two more runs to cross the plate and extending the inning for another five batters and two more Giants runs.

Your Little League coach/ President of Baseball Operations was right: Put the ball in play and good things happen; hustle to first and good things happen.

In five spring games, Encarnación, who’s looking to carve out a role for himself on the Giants roster as a corner outfielder, DH, maybe 1B, is batting .444 (18 AB) with 5 extra base hits, 10 RBIs and only 3 strikeouts. He’s got my attention.