The Boston Red Sox and host San Francisco Giants will try to win a series when the interleague rivals clash for a third time Sunday afternoon, with the Giants’ Rafael Devers looking to send the home fans happy.
Devers, who was dealt from Boston to San Francisco a week ago, has been the focal point during a split in the first two games of the set. The Red Sox stuck him with an 0-for-5 tag in winning 7-5 in Friday’s opener, but Devers homered for the first time in his new home as part of a 3-2 Giants victory in the rematch Saturday.
Red Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito (3-1, 4.73 ERA) and Giants lefty Robbie Ray (8-2, 2.68) are the scheduled starters in the rubber game of the series.
After Devers, who had hit .272 in 73 games for the Red Sox, opened 3-for-16 in San Francisco, Giants manager Bob Melvin moved the slugger from third to second in the batting order for his fifth game.
The move paid immediate dividends as it pushed the club’s top holdover home run hitter, Heliot Ramos, into the No. 3 hole, from where he hit a first-inning home run.
Devers then got into the act two innings later, going the opposite way for his 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot to straight-away left field.
Melvin was happy to see his new lefty-swinging slugger rewarded for going the preferred path to a home run at Oracle Park rather than take on the challenge of belting one into the water beyond right field.
“That’s kinda typical him — let (the pitch) travel, catch it late and block it out to left field,” Melvin said. “He’s done it so many times in Boston, and this park kinda plays that way to lefties as well.”
In the end, Melvin was happy the focus could move away from home runs and more into winning ballgames.
“You get one (homer),” he said, “and now kinda settle in and do his thing.”
Devers will attempt to do that Sunday against Giolito, against whom the designated hitter has some history. For the Red Sox against the Chicago White Sox on June 23, 2023, Devers homered off Giolito — one of just two hits he’s had in 11 at-bats in their lifetime head-to-heads.
A Southern California native, Giolito has made three career starts against the Giants, going 2-1 with a 3.63 ERA. He’s coming off a masterpiece — six innings of shutout ball at Seattle on Monday. He struck out 10 in the 2-0 win, which came in Boston’s first game after the highly emotional Devers trade.
“Winning solves everything,” Giolito said of the team’s mood at the end of a long day Monday. “We were able to come together and maintain a very positive attitude. When it came (time) to compete, we competed.”
The Red Sox have gone 3-2 since the trade. A win Sunday would give them a second consecutive 2-1 series win to begin a nine-game Western swing.
For that to happen, they’ll have to deal with the Giants’ top winner in Ray, who began the season 7-0 but has won just once in his past four outings.
The former American League pitcher has faced the Red Sox eight times, seven times as a starter, and has gone 2-2 with a 3.54 ERA.
–Field Level Media
