For the San Francisco Giants, Robbie Ray took the mound Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who countered with Zac Gallen. The matchup followed the Giants’ successful road trip to Sacramento, where they won a series against the Athletics two games to one.

The Giants entered the series opener coming off one of their strongest offensive performances in recent weeks after scoring 10 runs on Sunday while continuing to rely on a pitching staff that has been among baseball’s best this season.

Ray entered the outing looking to rebound after a rough start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 13. Against Los Angeles, he allowed seven hits and four runs, including two home runs, while striking out only two batters.

While the Dodgers’ lineup is one of the most dangerous in baseball, the outing raised some concern given Ray’s unusual lack of strikeouts and the amount of hard contact he surrendered.

The Diamondbacks wasted no time putting pressure on the veteran left-hander. Arizona jumped out early after Nolan Arenado delivered a first-inning grand slam, continuing what has been a strong offensive resurgence this season.

Ketel Marte later added an RBI in the second inning as Arizona quickly built a 5-0 advantage through two innings.

According to Baseball Savant metrics, Ray’s slider velocity was noticeably down during the start. He threw the pitch 30 times at an average velocity of 84.7 mph, nearly three mph below his season average of 87.5 mph.

Although the slider generated a pair of swinging strikes, Ray struggled overall to miss bats, finishing the outing with only four whiffs on 38 swings for an 11 percent whiff rate. He also mixed in 25 fastballs, 21 changeups, and eight curveballs, but none of the pitches proved particularly effective.

Offensively, the Giants saw a bright spot from Willy Adames, who connected on a solo home run in the second inning. The homer was encouraging for the shortstop, who has struggled offensively for much of the season. San Francisco later added another run on a sacrifice fly from Luis Arraez that scored Harrison Bader.

Still, the game remained firmly in Arizona’s control as the Diamondbacks continued to capitalize on Ray’s struggles. The left-hander exited after 4 1/3 innings, allowing 11 hits and nine runs while striking out just one batter. He threw 84 pitches, including 51 strikes, in what was easily his most difficult outing of the year.

The Giants’ problems extended beyond the mound. Justin Brubaker entered in relief during the fifth inning and allowed another run across 1 2/3 innings. San Francisco’s defense also unraveled, committing three errors, including mistakes by Eric Haase, Willy Adames, and Matt Chapman.

Defensive inconsistency has occasionally surfaced throughout the season, and Monday’s performance proved costly as Arizona continued to add runs and put the game out of reach.

Ryan Borucki provided one of the few bright spots out of the bullpen, tossing a scoreless seventh inning despite allowing two hits.

The Giants ultimately fell 12-2 as Arizona took the opener of the three-game series. San Francisco will look to bounce back Tuesday when Landen Roupp takes the mound against Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson.

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