Giants squander scoring chances in NY despite Devers' big day

NEW YORK – The Giants had plenty of scoring opportunities against the Mets at Citi Field on Friday night, but San Francisco fell short, 10-6.

It was a game that saw the Giants go 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position and leave 11 runners on base. In fact, they had New York’s starter, Nolan McLean, on the ropes for most of the game.

In the first two innings, he threw 31 pitches and retired six of the seven Giants he faced. In the third frame, however, the Giants drove his pitch count up to 61 and scored two runs. Already down, 7-0, Rafael Devers put them on the board with a two-run double.

Two innings later, San Francisco had a chance to get McLean out of the game. The Giants had the bases loaded with nobody out, but McLean prevented them from scoring. Jung Hoo Lee struck out and Drew Cavanaugh hit into a double play to end the threat.

“We had him on the hook in the fifth. It was a matter of not getting anything done with the bases loaded,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said.

Mets interim manager Andy Green wasn’t surprised to see his No. 1 starter get out of the inning.

“He can put himself into some nasty jams, and then he finds a ridiculous amount of confidence to work his way out of it,” Green said. “So you got the bases loaded, you got nobody out. He looks like he's about to be done before the fifth inning is even over. Punches a guy out, he gets a double play ball, and he's out of the inning.”

By the sixth frame, New York had a 9-2 lead, but San Francisco kept fighting back, scoring once in the seventh. Then once again, it was Devers who made it a three-run game by hitting a three-run bomb into the right-field stands in the top of the eighth off right-hander Austin Warren.

“That was a good swing. It kept us in the game. With the offense that we have, we knew we were in the game the whole time,” Giants shortstop Christian Koss said. “That gave us the extra push that we were still in it.”

Devers now has 68 extra-base hits, which are the most by a Giants player in the team's first 142 games since Jeff Kent had 74 extra-base hits and Barry Bonds had 70 through as many games in 2002. Devers has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games and is batting .413 (19-for-46) with 18 RBIs and a 1.453 OPS over that span.

“Attitude, preparation, all those things are just spilling out on the field during the game,” Vitello said about Devers. “You are seeing an exceptional player be who he is.”

After Bryce Eldridge doubled against right-hander Robert Stock following Devers’ homer, the Giants didn’t have another runner in scoring position.

“The left-on-base category is one they don’t have on the scoreboard [at Citi Field]. It does have value, but sometimes it can be overrated,” Vitello said. “We want guys to get on base, but tonight, it told the story. The Mets left four on base because they hit the ball out of the park for the majority of their damage. We were in contention a bunch, but we left 11 on base. It would have been a little different [if we knock in the runs]. That was like a lot of games -- if you go back in time and change a few things, the game would have been different.”