WASHINGTON D.C. — Robbie Ray continued his recent stretch of excellence by allowing one run over six innings with seven strikeouts as the Giants beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Sunday at Nationals Park to take the series.

For Ray, this is his sixth consecutive outing of at least six innings, the third time he’s done so in his career. During this stretch, Ray has allowed seven earned runs over 39 innings (1.62 ERA) with 44 strikeouts to four walks.

Ray, as he is wont to do, heavily relied on his four-seam fastball. The left-hander’s heater accounted for 54 of his 90 pitches, inducing seven whiffs with the heater and landing 11 four-seamers for strikes. The only run that Ray allowed was self-inflicted as the Nationals’ Nasim Nuñez scored from third on a wild pitch.

Following Ray’s departure, manager Bob Melvin followed a familiar formula: Randy Rodríguez for the seventh, Tyler Rogers for the eighth and Ryan Walker for the ninth.

Rodríguez and Rogers pitched scoreless innings but Walker allowed a run on back-to-back doubles by CJ Abrams and James Wood, cutting the Giants’ lead to 3-2. That one run would be all the Nationals got.

Willy Adames got the Giants on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning by grounding out on a check swing, giving San Francisco an early 1-0 lead. The Giants tacked on two more runs in the third inning on Sam Huff’s solo homer, his second of the year, and Heliot Ramos’ RBI groundout that drove in Mike Yastrzemski, who tripled.

Worth noting

Right-hander Justin Verlander, who is currently on the 15-day injured list with a right pec strain, threw on Saturday and is expected to throw a bullpen in Detroit on Tuesday.
Infielder/outfielder Jerar Encarnacion (left hand fracture) will likely rejoin the Giants when the team returns from their three-city road trip opposed to meeting the team in Miami. He’s spending the weekend in Arizona, then will play a week of rehab games with Triple-A Sacramento. Encarnacion is eligible to return as of May 26.