The Giants may be out of the playoff race, but they’ve still got a chance to make the final stretch a nuisance for somebody else.
After sweeping the Cardinals in three straight, San Francisco opens a three-game set against the Padres on Friday night at Oracle Park, with first pitch set for 7:15 p.m. PT. The Giants are 62-85 and coming off a three-game winning streak, while San Diego arrives at 78-68 and has won four in a row.
Rafael Devers is back in the starting lineup after sitting out Wednesday’s series finale against St. Louis, and he’ll jump right back into the middle of the order as the designated hitter and No. 2 hitter. Bryce Eldridge stays put in the No. 3 spot.
The lineup shakeup gets more interesting at the top. Drew Cavanaugh moves into the leadoff role, while Drew Gilbert is out against left-hander Robbie Ray.
Grant McCray also sits after starting Wednesday. Cavanaugh is shifting from cleanup to first and will start in center field.
Jung Hoo Lee remains in the lineup, but he slides from fifth to seventh even with the left-on-left matchup. That shouldn’t matter much after he came through with one of the biggest swings of Wednesday’s comeback, a two-run double off the right-field wall that helped flip a 6-1 deficit into a 7-6 win.
That rally had plenty of moving parts. Cavanaugh started it with a single, Eldridge drove in two runs, Jonah Cox added an RBI single, Lee delivered his tying double and Shay Whitcomb followed with the go-ahead RBI double. Trent Harris finished it off for his first career save, and Matt Wilkinson picked up his first MLB win after tossing two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
It was a rare bright spot in a season that hasn’t offered many, and it also gave San Francisco its first three-game home sweep of the year.
Now the Giants turn to a familiar face on the other side. Ray, who spent the first part of the 2026 season with San Francisco before ending up in San Diego, makes his first return to Oracle Park. He’s 11-8 with a 3.39 ERA and 127 strikeouts, and his history in this ballpark could make him a problem.
Molina gets the start for the Giants and brings a 3-0 record, a 2.79 ERA and 15 strikeouts into the game. Against San Francisco specifically, he has been even sharper, posting a 1.88 ERA over his first 14.1 innings with the club.
The Padres’ lineup starts with Tatis, and the Giants will need to keep him off the bases with Jake Cronenworth, Manny Machado and Luis Campusano coming behind him. On the other side, Eldridge keeps showing why he’s been trusted in the middle of the order, after driving in three runs Wednesday and looking increasingly comfortable against big-league pitching.
San Francisco’s season is already over in the standings, but the Giants have found a way to make September matter anyway.
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