SF Giants fall to Red Sox in Rafael Devers’ first game against former team
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants believe that, in time, Rafael Devers will look the part of a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger. They do not doubt the ability. But for now, they must wait.
In his first game against his former team, Devers went hitless in five at-bats in his first game against as the Giants fell to the Boston Red Sox, 7-5, on Friday night at Oracle Park. San Francisco has lost three of its first four games since Devers made his debut, as well as six of its last eight overall.
The 28-year-old received a standing ovation in his first plate appearance of the night. Along with the Giants fans rising to their feet, a smattering of Red Sox fans saluted their former star. Some Boston fans, though, elected to remain seated. The 28-year-old could not appease the crowd, grounding out for the second out of the inning.
After flying out at the warning track in his second plate appearance of the night, Devers stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fifth and seventh innings following a pair of singles from Heliot Ramos. Devers couldn’t capitalize with Ramos on base, grounding out in the former inning and flying out in the latter frame.
In Devers’ fifth and final plate appearance of the night, he struck out swinging on a 101.8 mph four-seam fastball from Aroldis Chapman.
“His at-bats always feel pretty good,” said manager Bob Melvin. “It’s a matter of time before he does some damage.”
Devers’ first meeting with the Red Sox was devoid of drama for the most part, but there was a very mild skirmish after the final out was recorded.
After Wilmer Flores popped out to end the ballgame, he and Chapman exchanged words as Flores headed back to the dugout. Some members of the Giants’ bench spilled onto the field, but tensions didn’t escalate further and the episode concluded after about 30 seconds.
For all the theatrics, Flores’ explanation was simple: Flores thought Chapman said something to him and wanted to know what Chapman said.
“That’s why I tried to ask him if he said something because I don’t know,” Flores said.
The brief brouhaha was the end to a night that saw the Giants go 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, Hayden Birdsong allow five runs (four earned) over 4 1/3 innings and Christian Koss ground into two double plays with the bases loaded. As for the game itself, it was a seesaw battle that didn’t exactly feature crisp baseball.
The Giants took the lead in the bottom of the first when Red Sox second baseman David Hamilton muffed Flores’ weakly-hit line drive to drive in a run and give San Francisco a 1-0 lead. They scored two more in the second when Koss grounded into his first bases-loaded double play, then Mike Yastrzemski singled on a comebacker that Boston starter Hunter Dobbins couldn’t corral. Despite how it looked, San Francisco had a 3-0 lead.
Boston tied the game with a two-run homer from Hamilton in the third, then an RBI single from Ceddanne Rafaela in the fourth. San Francisco re-took the lead in the bottom of the fourth with Koss’ second double play with the bases loaded.
Things got ugly for the Giants in the top of the fifth inning. Roman Anthony drove in a run with a single, then advanced to second base when Jung Hoo Lee overthrew the cutoff man. The Red Sox took advantage of Lee’s mental error with the help of Christian Koss’ fielding error. Abraham Toro followed Anthony by hitting a grounder that slipped underneath Koss’ glove, allowing Anthony to score and giving Boston a 5-4 lead.
San Francisco got one of those runs right back in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single from Wilmer Flores to drive in Heliot Ramos. Ramos likely would’ve been out by several feet if Rafaela made a good throw, but Rafaela’s throw skipped home on several bounces, allowing the Giants to tie the game at five apiece.
Rafaela avenged the poor throw the next inning with a booming 424-foot home run to left-center field on a hanging curveball by right-hander Sean Hjelle. The 24-year-old donned Boston’s Wally the Green Monster helmet, and Boston had a 6-5 lead. Wilyer Abreu padded the lead in the seventh with an RBI single in the seventh, extending Boston’s lead to 7-5.
Mike Yastrzemski had an opportunity to, at the minimum, tie the game in the bottom of the eighth when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded, but Yastrzemski struck out swinging on a slider in the dirt from Garrett Whitlock.
