Surging Devers, Adames helping Giants' offense get its 'mojo' back

LOS ANGELES -- It hasn’t been the start to the season the Giants wanted, but some cause for optimism is beginning to emerge -- most notably a surging Rafael Devers and Willy Adames.

Devers crushed his third home run in the last five games, and Adames knocked in three runs to lead the Giants past the Dodgers, 9-3, in Monday night’s series opener at Dodger Stadium.

With the win, the Giants (17-24) snapped their seven-game road losing streak and secured back-to-back victories for the first time since April 25-26.

San Francisco’s maligned offense -- which is tied with the Mets for the fewest runs scored (139) in the Majors this year -- continued to trend upward, tallying 12 hits, a season-high six walks and multiple stolen bases for the first time in 2026.

Devers hit only .203 with a .530 OPS over his first 30 games of the season, but he’s been heating up over the last couple of weeks, batting .361 (13-for-36) with seven extra-base hits and eight RBIs over his last 11 games.

“I think his night is a good place to start just because the lineup feeds off him a little bit,” manager Tony Vitello said. “I think it’s unfair to put too much responsibility on someone’s shoulders or ask them to be who they’re not.

“I don’t think Rafi is ever going to be like a direct traffic guy, like a point guard or a quarterback, but he really is a team leader for a lot of reasons. When he’s vibing, it’s impossible not to be in the same mood that he is. He’s fun to be around, he’s comedic, and then he also wants to win. He kind of has that mojo or vibe going right now, and I think other guys kind of fall in line with it.”

Devers opened the scoring in the top of the second by hammering an outside splitter from Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki out to right field for his fifth home run of the year.

The three-time All-Star added a single in the sixth and then snapped a 3-3 tie in the seventh when he came up to the plate with the bases loaded and drew a seven-pitch walk off Los Angeles left-hander Alex Vesia to put the Giants ahead for good.

“Everybody knows what type of player he is and what kind of numbers he’s going to put up at the end of the year,” Adames said. “Obviously, it’s amazing that he got hot. But we just want him to continue to be himself and continue to help the team win more games.”

Adames followed with the big blow, lining a two-out, two-run single to right field off Will Klein to extend the Giants’ lead to 6-3. The 30-year-old shortstop came through with another RBI single in the top of the ninth, sparking a three-run rally that featured four walks from San Francisco, which has drawn the fewest free passes (86) in the Majors.

“It feels great when you have guys getting hot at the same time,” said Adames, who is 5-for-11 with five RBIs over his last two games. “It gives the pitchers the break because we put up more runs and obviously the confidence is different.”

Rookie right-hander Trevor McDonald, who was called up from Triple-A Sacramento to fill in for the injured Logan Webb, continued to impress in his second start of the year, holding the two-time defending World Series champions to three runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings. The Giants’ bullpen took over from there, with Matt Gage, Keaton Winn and JT Brubaker combining to throw 3 2/3 scoreless innings to lock down the win.

Devers’ turnaround -- coupled with the steady production of Casey Schmitt, who went 2-for-3 with a walk to raise his batting average to .294 with a team-high .864 OPS -- has made it more challenging for the Giants to find playing time for No. 1 prospect Bryce Eldridge, who was out of the starting lineup for the third time in the last four games on Monday.

Eldridge was on deck to pinch-hit for Schmitt in the top of the ninth, though he didn’t end up getting in the game after Luis Arraez grounded out to end the inning. Still, Vitello said he expects Eldridge to return to the starting lineup against Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Tuesday.

“I do think it’s a good idea, even if it’s a random situation, just to try to tally up some at-bats,” Vitello said. “I think ‘the future is bright’ is an understatement. I think anything to do justice by his development is smart. But also, we’re trying to win games. Just like any of those guys we’ve talked about tonight, he’s one guy that can help us win in a variety of ways.”