SAN FRANCISCO -- Rafael Devers’ torrid stretch at the plate put him in exclusive company on Monday night.
Devers went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and an RBI, becoming the first Giant to record 35 doubles and 35 homers in a single season since Hall of Famer Jeff Kent in 2002, and Shay Whitcomb delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning, leading San Francisco to a 5-4 win over the Cardinals at Oracle Park.
Devers has been on fire over the last couple of weeks, batting .421 (24-for-57) with nine homers, five doubles and 22 RBIs over his past 15 games. He homered six times in seven games during the Giants’ recent road trip to Atlanta, Pittsburgh and New York and quickly kept that hot streak going upon returning home on Monday.
After Turner Hill opened the bottom of the first with a walk, Devers smoked a Statcast-projected 402-foot drive that hit off the bricks in right field and fell for an RBI double, giving San Francisco an early 1-0 lead against Cardinals right-hander Michael McGreevy.
The Giants extended their lead to 2-0 on Bryce Eldridge’s sacrifice fly in the third and then tacked on another run after Devers and Eldridge recorded back-to-back doubles in the fifth.
San Francisco ace Logan Webb opened his start with five scoreless innings, though he allowed the Cardinals to get on the board via Alec Burleson’s splash hit homer in the sixth. Jordan Walker kept the inning going with a two-out walk, but Eldridge made a nice leaping grab on Leo Bernal’s 102.1 mph liner to help Webb end his night without any further damage.
Still, St. Louis pulled within one on Nathan Church’s RBI double off Trent Harris in the seventh and then tied the game on pinch-hitter José Fermín’s sacrifice fly off Dylan Smith in the top of the ninth. The Giants came back to load the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Cardinals reliever Ryne Stanek coaxed a flyout from Hill to send the game to extra innings.
St. Louis took a 4-3 lead on Bernal’s RBI single off Jason Foley in the top of the 10th, but the Giants pulled even in the bottom half of the inning. Riley O’Brien intentionally walked the red-hot Devers to bring up Eldridge, who lined a single to center field to score Hill -- the automatic runner -- from second.
Jonah Cox followed with a sacrifice bunt that put runners on second and third with one out, prompting the Cardinals to intentionally walk Jung Hoo Lee to load the bases. That brought up Drew Gilbert, who ended up hitting a squibbler in front of the plate that resulted in a 1-3, inning-ending double play.
Foley returned to the mound in the 11th and worked a scoreless inning, giving the Giants a chance to stage their final rally. Drew Cavanaugh laid down a sacrifice bunt to move automatic runner Nate Furman to third before Whitcomb bounced an infield single to the left side to end the game.