A bumpy evening for both starting pitchers wreaked havoc on last night’s bet — some of which wasn’t their fault. We’ll try again in the next game, this one in San Francisco.

The Giants hosted the Seattle Mariners for their home opener yesterday in what turned out to be a wild affair. The score was knotted 8-8 even before the seventh inning and ultimately spilled into extras, where the Bay Area residents would thwart a one-run deficit in the bottom of the 11th. They won it on a walk-off two-run knock from big free-agent acquisition Willy Adames.

While yesterday’s ballgame featured a whopping 19 runs, don’t expect anything close to that in the encore. There’s a pitching matchup on hand with the potential to showcase a duel.

Robbie Ray gets the ball for his second start of his second campaign with the Giants. Last year was Ray’s return from Tommy John surgery, doing so with San Francisco after his former club — tonight’s opponent — traded him in January 2024. The veteran southpaw went on to make seven starts, and while he produced an underwhelming 4.70 ERA, the other stats were positive enough to believe he could reclaim his old form.

In those seven games, Ray notched 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings (albeit with 4.4 walks per nine) and limited opposing batters to a .189 average. He also had a 3.72 expected ERA.

Spring training was very encouraging for the 2021 American League Cy Young Award winner as well, logging a 1.86 ERA, 0.62 WHIP, .157 batting average against and 10.7 K/9 in 19 1/3 innings.

Ray’s season debut came last Sunday in Cincinnati and turned out fairly well, even earning a victory. The only problem was that of his three hits allowed, two went for homers. However, that can always be a product of starting a game at hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park.

The site of tonight’s outing, Oracle Park, is one of the best pitcher’s parks in the league, and Ray will get an assignment opposite his ex-mates, who were the worst lineup in baseball against left-handers a year ago.

As highlighted previously in this column, the Mariners finished dead last in team batting average with a lefty on the mound, registering an atrocious .213 mark in that department. Furthermore, they punched out once every 3.5 at-bats.

So far this season, Seattle is hitting .220 off southpaws and has gone down via strikeout 29 times already in just 91 at-bats. Even aside from the revenge-game factor, Ray could possibly feast here.

We’ll also hope for decent work from the counterpart, Bryce Miller, also making his second start. The 26-year-old — a dark horse Cy Young pick by some — put the baseball world on notice last season when he went 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. Additionally, he kept opposing hitters right at the Mendoza Line (.200) in batting average against.

Miller exhibited mixed results in his first turn of the year against the Athletics. While he did allow a bit too many baserunners (eight), the Texas A&M alum also was only one out away from a quality start.

If he can stick around a bit longer this time, Miller is in a fine spot to accumulate a quality turn. The Giants are typically one of the lighter-hitting teams in front of the hometown faithful — due to their spacious ballpark — and cranked out the second fewest homers at home a season ago.

One final ingredient that could help maintain a low score is the umpire behind the plate tonight. James Hoye will be calling balls and strikes, and is as good to pitchers as anybody. I’m adding the extra half run with the thought that 8 is the absolute ceiling.

Pick: Under 8 (-143, DraftKings)

2025 MLB Betting Record: 5-4-1, +0.53 unit
Over/Unders: 4-3
Props: 1-0
MLs: 0-1
Yesterday’s Result: Guardians-Angels Under 8 (loss)

Each bet graded as if it were to win one unit unless otherwise stated.

Follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @MattZylbert for potential additional picks.