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.
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.
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 proved to be more than enough breathing room for the Giants’ bullpen, with Matt Gage, Keaton Winn and JT Brubaker combining to throw 3 2/3 scoreless innings behind starter Trevor McDonald.
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.
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.
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.
“I don't like ever taking Rafi out, to be honest with you,” manager Tony Vitello said before the game. “He's got a track record of posting. If you meet with him in person or you text him, he wants to be out there. It's nice that he's flexible as far as the DH for being out there and will work with us on that. But he's our biggest threat. As much of a threat as Bryce is, our biggest threat in the lineup is Rafi. Our best producer so far has been Casey. It does kind of make it that triangle of bodies there. It does make it a little bit of a puzzle to solve.”