Rafael Devers gave Fenway Park the moment it was waiting for Friday night, but the Boston Red Sox made sure the night ended with their own celebration.
Boston beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4 in the opener of a three-game series, spoiling Devers’ first game back at Fenway Park since the blockbuster trade. The former Red Sox star homered in his return, but the home club answered with a bigger swing from Willson Contreras and enough offense to keep control the rest of the way.
San Francisco got on the board first in the third inning when Bryce Eldridge lined an RBI single off Sonny Gray. That edge didn’t last long.
Nick Sogard singled, Wilyer Abreu walked, and Contreras changed the game with a three-run homer off Logan Webb that went 450 feet and completely out of Fenway Park. Boston’s lead was 3-1, and the inning only got uglier for the Giants from there.
The Red Sox kept the pressure on with two outs. Adley Rutschman and Caleb Durbin singled, Jarren Duran added another hit to load the bases, and Webb lost the zone.
He walked Andruw Monasterio to bring home Rutschman, then hit Mickey Gasper with a pitch to force in Durbin. By the time the inning was over, Boston had sent 10 batters to the plate and flipped a one-run deficit into a 5-1 lead.
Contreras finished 1-for-2 with three RBIs and two walks, and his homer was his 26th of the season. Webb never found his footing, lasting just 2 2/3 innings while allowing five runs on six hits and three walks. He threw 70 pitches before Tony Vitello went to the bullpen.
Devers still got his moment in the fourth. After Drew Gilbert hit a two-run homer to trim Boston’s lead to 5-3, Devers stepped in two batters later and crushed Gray’s four-seam fastball over the center-field wall.
The shot traveled 412 feet and came off the bat at 107.1 mph. It was Devers’ 26th homer of the season and his first at Fenway as a visiting player.
That blast pulled San Francisco within a run, but Boston answered again in the sixth. Sogard worked a two-out walk, and Abreu followed with an RBI triple into right field to push the lead to 6-4.
Abreu was all over the place at the plate, finishing 3-for-3 with a walk, a run and an RBI. Duran added two hits, and the Red Sox finished with 11 hits overall.
The bullpen did the rest. Boston didn’t allow another run after Devers’ homer, and Aroldis Chapman handled the ninth to close it out. The win lifted the Red Sox to 69-59 and helped them bounce back from Wednesday’s extra-inning loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
For Devers, the return carried the expected drama. He finished with one hit, one walk and one RBI, and also struck out in his first plate appearance. The night had plenty of emotion attached to it, but Boston kept its focus on the standings and protected its lead to the finish.
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