DENVER — Rafael Devers paused to admire his home run as it soared into the second deck in the first inning Tuesday night. It was the same walk-out-of-the-box reaction and little twirl of the bat he’s made after dozens of home runs in his career. But Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland took exception. Freeland walked off the mound and shouted at Devers to run the bases.
Eventually, Devers did. More than eight minutes later.
Here’s everything that happened in between on a crazy night at Coors Field: a shouting match across the infield, a benches-clearing incident between the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies, and a whole lot of shoving and jersey pulling but no right crosses thrown. The fracas included a brief second wave, resulted in three ejections, and brought a little spice to this series between NL West adversaries who’ll meet again in San Francisco to end the regular season.
It also might have sparked a little more fight and solidarity in a team that remains on the outskirts of the NL wild-card standings.
“I think that’s what a team does,” Devers said through Spanish interpreter Erwin Higueros. “We’re a very united team, and I think in situations like that, that’s what we should do: stick up for each other.”
Just two batters into the game, the Giants led 2-0 but lost two of their most important pieces on the chessboard. Their Nos. 3-4 hitters, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, were ejected along with Freeland for instigating the situation. So Giants manager Bob Melvin played lineup Tetris and Devers moved across the infield while making his Giants debut as a third baseman. Casey Schmitt entered the game, bruised elbow and all after getting hit by a pitch the previous night, and hit one of the Giants’ four home runs in a 7-4 victory.
The Giants were missing a rook and a knight but won the game with what’s become a familiar gambit. They went deep to score all their runs. Schmitt hit his solo shot in the fifth inning, Flores followed with a two-run homer and Patrick Bailey unbuckled a one-run game with a two-run shot in the ninth. The Giants won for the ninth time in 10 games, moved over .500 for the first time since Aug. 9 and hit at least one home run for the 16th consecutive game to equal the San Francisco-era franchise record set in 1962 and matched in 1963.
Devers has seven home runs over the 16-game streak; earlier Tuesday, he was named the National League Player of the Week after hitting .478 with two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBIs over a six-game span. He was acquired in June to be a face of the franchise, but even franchise cornerstones need a while to get their bearings when they’re traded in the middle of a season.
It’s happening later than anyone would’ve liked, but Devers is hot enough to carry the team. And everyone else is following his lead.
“Come on, everybody knows it’s Rafi Devers,” said leadoff hitter Heliot Ramos, who singled ahead of Devers’ home run and had the presence of mind to score before jumping into the melee. “He’s going to be a Hall of Famer if God gives him the gift to stay healthy. He’s a great baseball player, a great hitter. We knew it was going to come. He just needed to get adjusted and comfortable here. He’s very happy. He feels good, he plays hard, he works hard. That’s who he is. That’s how people saw him coming up.”
Freeland had a different viewpoint. He said he could understand a hitter expressing emotion after hitting a game-changing, late-inning home run, but felt disrespected when Devers reacted after hitting the eighth pitch of the game.
“I just found it extremely disrespectful to, you know, show me up like that in the first inning after hitting the home run, standing there watching it, taking your sweet time, getting down (to) first base,” Freeland said. “Been in this league for quite some time. I know he has as well. I just find that extremely disrespectful and felt that I needed to let him know about that.”
Freeland shouted at Devers, who was vociferous in reply. There was never a threat that Freeland would go after Devers — plate umpire Phil Cuzzi had both hands on the pitcher’s jersey — but benches emptied and tempers escalated. Adames, who was in the on-deck circle, was the first player to reach Freeland. Chapman was next on the scene and shoved Freeland from the side. Then both teams met in a mosh pit on the infield. A second fracas broke out when Adames went after Freeland and had to be restrained by Giants bench coach Ryan Christenson.
Once order was restored, umpires huddled for several minutes before announcing that Freeland, Adames and Chapman had been ejected. Devers, who stood on first base the entire time umpires were conferring, was given the signal to complete his home run trot in front of a booing crowd.
“I don’t know why he got like that,” Devers said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I mean, I did the same thing I do every time I hit a home run.”
Crew chief Dan Bellino said Chapman was ejected for “overly aggressive” actions and for being an instigator. Bellino said Adames initially was not an instigator until he sparked the second wave when he went after Freeland. Both players are likely to be fined and a suspension isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“For where we are in the season, I hope MLB understands the significance of these two guys,” Melvin said. “I don’t see (a suspension) warranted for anything extensive, that’s for sure.”
Devers also appeared to shove Freeland during the incident but was not disciplined. If umpires had determined that Devers warranted an ejection, Bellino said he believed that the home run would have counted and they would not have required the Giants to use a pinch runner. The umpires discussed whether Devers could be called out for abandoning the basepaths but determined that it was a dead-ball situation.
What was Devers thinking as he stood on first base for eight minutes?
“I was just standing there,” he said. “I was waiting for the umpires to make a decision, to let me know if I could run or not. I didn’t know what was going to happen at that point.”
It was the second consecutive year that Devers was in the middle of a benches-clearing incident at Coors Field. Last season, while playing for the Boston Red Sox, Devers was on third base when Reese McGuire hit a fly ball and a war of words erupted between him and Rockies pitcher Cal Quantrill.
What is it about the Rockies?
“I don’t know what’s going on over there,” Devers said. “It’s probably (they) have some issues, but I really don’t care.”
“Everybody knows when he takes his swing, he finishes like that,” Ramos said. “I don’t know what problem he had. I know they’re struggling and they’ve been going through it. He can’t be like that, you know? That’s not nice.”
“I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before with that guy,” right-hander Logan Webb said of Freeland. “He just kind of runs his mouth a lot of the time. Rafi got him good.”
Melvin, suddenly deprived of his starting shortstop and third baseman following an incident that the Giants did not instigate, had to get creative. Schmitt and Dom Smith were sent up to pinch hit; in the bottom of the first inning, Devers moved from first base to make his Giants debut as a third baseman — a position he hadn’t played since last season with the Red Sox. Smith replaced Devers at first base, Schmitt went to second base and starting second baseman Christian Koss shifted to shortstop.
Devers saved a run and preserved a 2-1 lead in the third inning when he fielded a grounder, looked home and then started a 5-4-3 double play. He looked confident and comfortable while making another running play on a slow roller. Not bad for an infielder who hadn’t taken a ground ball at third base all season. He didn’t even have a third baseman’s glove. He borrowed Chapman’s.
“It felt really good,” Devers said. “I mean, it has five platinum gloves in there.”
Putting Schmitt in the field was less than ideal for the Giants. His elbow was still sore from his plunking the previous night and hadn’t done any throwing in pregame drills. He took fewer than 15 swings off a tee as part of his pregame work. When it became clear that he’d have to enter the game, he raced underneath the dugout and tried to loosen up his arm by throwing a ball into a net.
“It didn’t feel great, but it’s good enough,” Schmitt said. “I’m at second, so it’s not too long a throw.”
Schmitt barreled two deep outs prior to his home run, which came on the ninth pitch of his at-bat. His Lazarus act drew rave reviews in the postgame clubhouse.
“Casey, that was great to see,” said Webb, who threw five innings and was in the middle of the melee when he’d otherwise be getting ready to start the game. “You never really want to see that stuff, I guess, in most people’s eyes. But I think it’s sometimes a firestarter in a good way.”
Maybe it wasn’t the greatest outcome for Adames, who didn’t get a single at-bat while celebrating his 30th birthday. Adames was also deprived of a precious game while he attempts to hit the four home runs he needs to record the first 30-homer season by a Giant since Barry Bonds in 2004. For now, the Giants can say they have a 30-homer guy in their midst. Devers hit 15 of them before the trade and now he’s hit 15 as a Giant.
The Giants continue to trail the New York Mets by five games for the final NL wild-card berth — it’s effectively six games since the Mets own the tiebreaker — so in all likelihood, they are primarily playing for each other.
“That’s never varied,” Melvin said. “It’s always been a team that’s been really tight, even during the tough times. And that’s what gets you through the tough times. It shows you the fight when these guys are sticking up for their teammate — their new teammate, so to speak.”
The Rockies entered with a 39-99 record. They took the field hoping to avoid their 100th loss of the season. They did not.
(Photo: Justin Edmonds / Getty Images)