SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants have gone deep only twice over their first 10 home games of the year. Both shots have come off the bat of the same man: Rafael Devers.
Devers flexed his tremendous power by hammering a three-run blast to snap a scoreless deadlock in the sixth inning and then added an RBI single in the eighth to spur the Giants to a 5-0 victory over the Phillies in Wednesday afternoon’s series finale at Oracle Park.
With the win, San Francisco (5-8) won back-to-back home games for the first time this season and clinched a much-needed series victory before embarking on an 11-day, nine-game road trip through Baltimore, Cincinnati and Washington.
Veteran right-handers Tyler Mahle and Aaron Nola matched each other with five scoreless innings to start the game before the Giants finally broke through thanks to Devers’ big swing in the sixth.
Willy Adames sent a blooper to shallow right field and hustled into second base in the sixth inning for his fifth double of the series, becoming the first Giant to collect five two-baggers in a three-game span since Buster Posey did so from June 13-15, 2013. Luis Arraez followed with a walk to put a pair of runners on with one out, though Nola managed to strike out Matt Chapman looking after the Phillies issued a successful ABS challenge that flipped an initial ball four into a called third strike.
Still, Devers made sure the Giants didn’t squander the scoring opportunity. He proceeded to mash a first-pitch fastball from Nola a Statcast-projected 411 feet out to center field for his second homer of the year, giving San Francisco a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
The Giants added on in the eighth after Adames reached on a leadoff single and scored on a costly defensive miscue from Phillies left-hander José Alvarado.
Alvarado attempted to field a sacrifice bunt from Arraez, but he airmailed his throw to first baseman Bryce Harper and then watched the ball roll past a diving Bryson Stott, allowing Adames to score all the way from first. Arraez advanced to second on the play and later came home on Devers’ RBI single up the middle.