The San Francisco Giants arrived in Florida on April 3 trying to stop a road trip that had gone off the rails, and they got one last chance against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. First pitch was scheduled for 3:10 p.m. PT.
The Giants were 0-5 on the trip, had been shut out twice, blown ninth-inning leads twice and scored just eight runs before facing Tampa Bay. That is the kind of stretch that can drain a club before April has even settled in, and it left San Francisco at 13-20 entering the game.
Tyler Mahle was scheduled to start for the Giants in his seventh outing of the season, carrying a 1-4 record, a 5.87 ERA and a 5.47 FIP into the matchup. He had 29 strikeouts and 17 walks in 30.2 innings, and his previous outing had ended with five runs allowed in five innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Steven Matz was lined up for Tampa Bay in his seventh start with his new team, bringing a 4-1 record and a 4.31 ERA into the day. He had a 5.06 FIP, 27 strikeouts and 11 walks in 31.1 innings, and his last start came in a two-run, seven-inning effort against the Cleveland Guardians.
The Rays entered at 20-12, a sharp contrast to a Giants club still searching for traction. For San Francisco, this game was less about building momentum than simply getting one win out of a road trip that had already cost it too much.
What came next for the Giants was plain enough: they needed to show they could still pitch, score and hold a lead before the season’s early damage became a deeper problem. Against a Tampa Bay team playing well at home, that was the test staring them in the face.
