{"id":660384,"date":"2026-05-09T19:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660384\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T19:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:15:13","slug":"rafael-devers-heats-up-and-the-giants-hope-theyre-ready-to-flip-the-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660384\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Devers heats up, and the Giants hope they\u2019re ready to flip the switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Giants manager Tony Vitello had just finished discussing the particulars of Friday night\u2019s 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates \u2014 one of the team\u2019s more complete efforts of the season, which included a home run from Rafael Devers<\/a>, a stubborn six innings from Robby Ray, a slew of solid defensive plays and a hit from every spot in the lineup except one \u2014 when he was asked to reflect on whether his disappointing team might be preparing to turn a corner.<\/p>\n

His mind flashed to Tim Robbins, a lightning storm and an aerial camera shot in \u201cThe Shawshank Redemption.\u201d And when a thought enters Vitello\u2019s mind, it\u2019s already halfway to his voice box.<\/p>\n

\u201cShawshank\u2019s a pretty good movie,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cSometimes you got to, you know \u2026 Andy Dufresne had to swim through a lot of poo to come out on the other side and see the sunshine. So maybe that\u2019s us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first month of the Giants\u2019 season sure seemed like wading through excrement. If you want a little more analysis inspired by \u201cThe Shawshank Redemption,\u201d it didn\u2019t help that the Giants\u2019 highest-paid hitters were producing like they were swinging diminutive rock hammers. Time and pressure might suffice if you\u2019ve got a decade to dig a tunnel. A nine-inning game tends to go a little swifter. If you\u2019re not taking enough damaging swings, there\u2019s no hope of escape.<\/p>\n

Hope is a dangerous thing. It can drive a man insane. Hope is also a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.<\/p>\n

How realistic are the Giants\u2019 hopes? Well, give them this much. The Great Reawakening of Devers might be the most hopeful sign yet that the Giants can rebound from their awful start and make something of this season.<\/p>\n

The slugging first baseman hit a home run for the second consecutive game. He extended his hitting streak to eight games, during which he\u2019s batting .346\/.387\/.654 with six RBIs. His solo homer in the second inning was a majestic shot to center field that equalized the homer Ray gave up to Marcell Ozuna in the top of the inning. Devers also singled and scored the tiebreaking run in the fourth.<\/p>\n

Devers wasn\u2019t the Giants\u2019 only April underachiever to provide a murmur in the box score. Willy Adames posted his first multi-hit game since April 17 and had a third hit taken away when Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds caught his drive at the top of the wall. Matt Chapman was the only member of the starting lineup who didn\u2019t get a hit, but he deftly started a double play to get Ray out of the first inning and made a shrewd decision on the basepaths following a busted two-out gamble.<\/p>\n

Chapman tried to go from first to third on Heliot Ramos\u2019 single to center, figuring that Oneil Cruz\u2019s throw to the plate would sail over the cutoff man\u2019s head. When the throw was cut off, and Chapman saw he\u2019d be out easily at third, he slammed on the brakes and dragged out the play long enough to ensure that Devers crossed the plate and that the run would count.<\/p>\n

It was an unsuccessful gamble. But you can\u2019t accuse Chapman of being obtuse.<\/p>\n

Now for the dangerous side of hope: The Giants once again failed to draw a walk. They haven\u2019t drawn a walk in three consecutive games \u2014 something that hasn\u2019t happened to them since April 11-13, 2009. It\u2019s hard to imagine the Giants achieving a sustainable offense while they continue to rank last in the league in walks.<\/p>\n

Then again, you can\u2019t work a walk when opposing pitchers keep pumping strikes with no fear. That\u2019s how most teams have been attacking the Giants. So it stands to reason that any offensive turnaround will begin with the Giants hitting their way out of it and then forcing the league to adjust.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re struggling, you blink and it\u2019s 0-2,\u201d Adames said. \u201cBut things are going to start changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019d better. Entering Friday night, the trio of Devers, Chapman and Adames had combined for seven home runs. They were on pace to hit 30 between the three of them. Given that woeful lack of impact, the Giants might have felt fortunate to be no worse than 14-23.<\/p>\n

\"Willy<\/p>\n

\n Willy Adames and Rafael Devers are beginning to shake off their slow starts. (Thearon W. Henderson \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Adames has stepped to the plate with 70 runners on base. He\u2019s driven in three of them. His 4.3 percent success rate is the lowest in the major leagues among 182 batters with as many RBI opportunities.<\/p>\n

When Adames got off to a similarly slow start last year, the team was winning in spite of him. This year, there\u2019s been no solace and no place to hide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how I\u2019ll always finish, because I work hard and do my stuff,\u201d said Adames, who rebounded last year to become the Giants\u2019 first 30-home run hitter since Barry Bonds in 2004. \u201cBut when it\u2019s the whole team, that\u2019s when it\u2019s difficult. Because when you\u2019re not winning, it\u2019s not fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants\u2019 clubhouse was in agreement: It\u2019ll be more fun for everyone when Devers starts making a daily impact again.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the biggest force on this team,\u201d Adames said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he gets going, we start rolling,\u201d Ray said. \u201cIf he\u2019s feeling good in the box, he can carry a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could see it coming,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cThere were some knocks in Tampa (last weekend) and maybe even some better swings a little bit before that. Since that period, to me, the foul balls, the takes, the swings, the balls barreled up, have all been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been all bad for the Giants over the first quarter of the season. Ramos, who threw out a runner at third base and made a leaping catch at the wall, has improved from last year\u2019s abysmal defensive showing in left field. Jung Hoo Lee, who made a running catch in foul ground, has been a defensive star while taking to right field. Center fielder Harrison Bader is on the mend from his hamstring ailment and should be back in the lineup soon. Catcher Daniel Susac, who provided an offensive spark, hit two home runs in a rehab game at Triple-A Sacramento Thursday night and could return sometime on the next road trip.<\/p>\n

Luis Arraez continues to deliver results as well. He returned to the lineup after missing two games with a thumb injury and lined a two-run single in the seventh \u2014 a cushion that right-hander Caleb Kilian needed when he allowed the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. The Giants signed Arraez<\/a> because they felt his contact skills, along with Lee\u2019s, would complement the production they expected from the middle of the lineup. When that production failed to materialize, the impact of those contact hitters was minimized.<\/p>\n

If the Giants\u2019 lineup really is beginning to heat up, the timing couldn\u2019t be better. After they get done with the Pirates and play four games at Dodger Stadium, the schedule finally appears to soften up: six road games against the Athletics and Arizona Diamondbacks, then a homestand with the Chicago White Sox and Diamondbacks, followed by a road trip that begins at Colorado\u2019s Coors Field.<\/p>\n

The Giants\u2019 performance, not the schedule, is responsible for their terrible start. But a tough schedule hasn\u2019t done them any favors. Consider the state of the American League, which is wallowing in mediocrity and features just two teams \u2014 the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays \u2014 that are more than two games over .500. Then consider that the Giants have a 1-8 interleague record. Two of their three AL opponents thus far? The Yankees and Rays.<\/p>\n

Are we back to hope being a good thing?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re better than who we\u2019ve been,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cThat\u2019s not even really going out on a limb. \u2026 I think it\u2019s a good club, and it doesn\u2019t need to be one magic night that does it. It doesn\u2019t have to be any special play we run or anything like that. We just got to keep our nose down and choose to be confident showing up to the park every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a couple walk-off wins in a row, or you have a bunch of games where you beat the hell out of somebody, it\u2019s kind of easy to come back into the locker room and be confident. It\u2019s not as easy this way. But maybe we distance ourselves from the first month of the season, and it provides confidence that we\u2019ve got some scar tissue to us and we know what it looks like when it really gets tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was at this point that Vitello cited Andy Dufresne\u2019s cinematic crawl to freedom through a sewer pipe. Maybe it\u2019s true. Maybe the Giants have come through the worst of their season. And if not, well, the weather in Zihuatanejo is pretty much perfect in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Giants manager Tony Vitello had just finished discussing the particulars of Friday night\u2019s 5-2 victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,5157,85],"class_list":["post-660384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}