Rafael Devers ended Friday night the way the Giants desperately needed him to: with a swing that sent Oracle Park home happy and snapped San Francisco’s five-game skid.
The Giants outlasted the Los Angeles Angels 7-6 in 10 innings, and Devers supplied the finish with a walk-off ground-rule double. Luis Arraez, the automatic runner at second, never made it across, which meant Devers was denied an RBI on the play.
Devers had already done plenty earlier in the night. He and Casey Schmitt each homered, with both players reaching 21 home runs on the season, and Devers’ bat helped set the tone early before the game turned into a back-and-forth mess.
Los Angeles struck first in the opening inning when Nolan Schanuel drove in a run with an RBI single. San Francisco answered right away. Devers launched a two-run homer off Grayson Rodriguez down the left-field line in the bottom of the first to put the Giants in front.
Then came the moment that backfired on the Angels. In the third inning, with a runner aboard, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki chose to intentionally walk Devers after the count reached 2-0. Schmitt made the decision look worse almost instantly, crushing a 412-foot, 105.9-mph three-run homer to push the Giants ahead 5-1.
For a while, it looked like Logan Webb and that early offense might be enough. Webb went six innings and allowed four runs, but the Angels kept hanging around. They cut into the lead in the fifth on Tyler Heineman’s two-run triple and Mike Trout’s sacrifice fly, trimming the margin to 5-4.
San Francisco answered with a little speed in the seventh. Drew Gilbert walked, Grant McCray came on as a pinch-runner, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Daniel Susac’s sacrifice fly to make it 6-4.
McCray’s night kept getting bigger from there. He also stole second after entering in the seventh, then threw out a runner at third in the top of the 10th to end the inning and keep the game alive for the Giants.
But the Angels weren’t done. Vaughn Grissom tied it in the eighth with a two-run homer off reliever Jason Foley, and suddenly the Giants were back in another tight one.
They finally finished it in the 10th, with Devers delivering the decisive hit and San Francisco walking off with a much-needed win.
Robbie Ray (8-6, 3.33 ERA) is scheduled to start Saturday at 1:05 p.m. against the Angels’ Ryan Johnson (2-4, 6.10 ERA).
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