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Reporting from ORACLE PARK
Rafael Devers played hero both early and late as the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-6 in 10 innings Friday night at Oracle Park.
With the bases loaded and one out in the 10th, Devers lined an opposite-field single to left off Chase Silseth (L, 3-2, 2.87 ERA), scoring the automatic runner and ending a five-game losing streak. It was his first walk-off as a Giant.
The Giants (43-60) turned to All-Star Logan Webb to stop the skid, but as in his last home start against Colorado, San Francisco went to the bottom of the first trailing.
Nolan Schanuel made it 1-0 with an RBI single into right field, scoring Zach Neto, who led off the game with a triple.
Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez made his ninth start for the Angels (41-63), carrying an 8.23 ERA over 35 innings. After allowing a leadoff single to Luis Arraez, he got Heliot Ramos to ground into a double play. The inning looked over, but Bryce Eldridge drew a walk and Devers made the walk hurt.
Devers snuck a low liner just over the 339-foot mark in left field for a two-run home run, his 21st of the season, giving the Giants an unexpected first-inning lead.
The Giants made Rodriguez work early. Despite lining out to left field, a 12-pitch at-bat from catcher Daniel Susac put Rodriguez at 47 pitches through his first time through the order.
More two-out offense came in the third. After a ground-rule double by Eldridge, the Angels intentionally walked Devers to pitch to Casey Schmitt instead, and Schmitt made them wish they hadn’t.
Schmitt pulled his 21st home run halfway up the bleachers in left, a 412-foot shot that added three runs and made it 5-1 after three innings.
After the first-inning run, Webb settled in against Los Angeles. All 12 outs he recorded through the fourth were either strikeouts or made by a member of the Giants infield.
Webb said he fell into a rhythm the Angels eventually solved:
“I threw the pitches that I wanted to throw, I think later on, I just kinda got into a pattern with some of the stuff I was trying to do.”
That pattern caught up with him in the fifth, when the Angels tacked on three runs. A two-run triple from catcher Tyler Heineman and a sacrifice fly from Mike Trout cut it to 5-4.
Trout is no stranger to the Bay Area, having played against the Athletics in Oakland for most of his big league career. But in his 16th season, he entered the weekend playing just his third series in San Francisco, after 2015 and 2020.
For a player of his caliber, Trout does not see it as a challenge:
“I don’t think it’s anything different. It’s just getting out there, seeing the field, seeing the angles in the outfield and getting used to it [pregame].”
Angels manager Kurt Suzuki admitted it is strange that Trout has played so little at Oracle Park, but said he does not worry about any unfamiliarity in the field:
“He’s the model of consistency. To be as good as he has and to play as long as he has, you gotta be consistent at what he does and that’s what he does.”
Webb finished strong, retiring the Angels in order in the sixth. He went six innings on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts, allowing four earned runs, and left with a 5-4 lead that did not hold.
Insurance runs are at a premium for the Giants, and they almost feel necessary given how the bullpen has thrown since the All-Star break. Manufacturing them has been a constant struggle in 2026.
They got one in the seventh, when Drew Gilbert reached base for the third straight time, this time on a walk. Grant McCray pinch-ran, stole second, took third on a wild pitch by Kirby Yates and scored on a sacrifice fly from Susac.
But it was not enough. Angels second baseman Vaughn Grissom hit a two-run home run off Jason Foley in the eighth, tying the game at six and sticking Foley with a blown save. Grissom’s sixth homer of the season drew boos from the sellout Friday night crowd of 41,559.
The game went to extra innings after both teams came up empty in the ninth. Erik Miller worked around a walk and an intentional walk to Trout to strand two Angels, and the Giants stranded McCray at second.
Caleb Kilian pitched the 10th for San Francisco and faced Wade Meckler with runners at first and second. A routine flyout to McCray in center became a remarkable 8-5 double play, doubling off Oswald Peraza, who had pinch-run for Schanuel and was thrown out at third. The Angels challenged, and the call on the field was upheld.
McCray is building a track record of outfield assists, and the play recalled his double play against the Dodgers last September. He said the Angels should have seen it coming:
“It shouldn’t be a secret, they have video and everything to go over it. I was just talking to Ramos about it, if [the Angels] didn’t let [Peraza] know, they just let him run into an out.”
With the crowd fired up and “Tarps Off” in full effect across the ballpark, the Giants went to work in the bottom half. Rookie catcher Jesus Rodriguez, pinch-running for Drew Cavanaugh as the automatic runner, took third on an Arraez single to left. Ramos grounded out, and Eldridge walked to load the bases.
That brought up Devers, who delivered just as he had in the first, lining Silseth’s pitch into left to score Rodriguez and hand Kilian (W, 3-6, 4.57 ERA) the win.
Up Next
Game two of the series sends Robbie Ray to the mound for San Francisco in what could be his final home start at Oracle Park, as the left-hander is a hot commodity with the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaching. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
Notes
Will Clark open to Olympic coaching role
Former Giants first baseman Will Clark was in uniform pregame for the team’s annual Autism Acceptance Night.
Clark, a special assistant for the Giants, expressed interest in a possible coaching role for Team USA Baseball at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as long as it would not interfere with his duties for the orange and black.
He has not been approached by USA Baseball, but for Clark it would come full circle. He represented Team USA at the 1984 Summer Olympics, also held in Los Angeles, winning a silver medal and leading the team with a .429 batting average.
Trout welcomes LeBron to Philadelphia
LeBron James agreed to a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, committing to a 24th NBA season. Trout, an avid Philadelphia sports fan, kept his reaction short:
“Love it.”
