SF Giants fall 3-2 to Cleveland Guardians in Rafael Devers' post-trade debut

Cam Inman, The Mercury News on Jun 18, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SAN FRANCISCO – Oracle Park’s crowd greeted Rafael Devers with a standing ovation each at-bat in his San Francisco Giants’ debut Tuesday night.

Fans oohed at every mighty swing. They roared at his first hit – a go-ahead, RBI double to the right-center wall. And they cheered when he singled to left to extend a bottom-of-the-ninth rally.

That was as grand an entrance as Devers would make Tuesday night as the Giants endured a 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians to open a nine-game homestand.

Devers’ first hits as a Giant provided temporary euphoria for Giants’ fans, two days after Boston traded away the high-priced, left-handed slugger.

The Boston Trade Party hit a snag, however.

The Giants couldn’t muster any more run-scoring hits, and pitcher Robbie Ray (8-2) gave up too many to a Cleveland club that just got swept in Seattle.

It was the Giants’ third straight defeat and fourth in five games, following a season-best seven-game win streak.

Giants manager Bob Melvin could at least marvel at Devers’ first impression in his new, cross-country home.

“He shows up already a fan favorite,” Melvin said. “He gets a couple hits and he drives in a run for us. There’s a lot going on emotionally. We assume everything‘s great. It’s hard to do what he did today. That’s what impressed me the most: how comfortable he looked in a completely different place the first time in his career.”

Channeling the comeback grit that’s carried them throughout this season, the Giants’ ninth-inning rally opened with Jung Hoo Lee ‘s leadoff single. After Devers’ single, Heliot Ramos drew a walk, Dominic Smith flew out to left, and Casey Schmitt came up for his do-or-die moment.

Schmitt struck out. Game over.

“We didn’t come through when we had opportunities to score runs,” Melvin said.

An inning earlier, Schmitt was the potential tying run, until he got doubled off for failing to dive back in time to second base on a Tyler Fitzgerald lineout. Schmitt and Mike Yastrzemski had opened that rally with singles; Yastrzemski had the Giants’ only other extra-base hit, on a sixth-inning double.

Devers’ third-inning double marked his 432nd extra-base hit since 2019, the most in the majors. Rather than test out Triples Alley, Devers cruised into second base and Willy Adames scooted home for a short-lived, 2-1 lead.

Devers batted third as the designated hitter, thus relegating Giants’ RBI-leader Wilmer Flores to the bench; Flores lined out as a pinch-hitter as an eighth-inning rally sputtered.

Fans applauded Devers’ effort as he struck out in his initial at-bat. That came on a 96-mph high heater from starter Stade Cecconi, who struck him out again in the fifth (83-mph slider).

Down 3-2 in the seventh, Devers’ grounded out on a tapper up the first-base line, and a potential Giants rally would end with Dominic Smith striking out to strand two runners.

The Guardians nearly added an insurance run in the ninth, but a replay review confirmed that Helot Ramos threw out Gabriel Arias at home plate courtesy of Logan Porter’s tag.

The Guardians moved ahead 3-2 in the sixth, as Ray gave up a 412-foot home run to Arias on an 0-2 fastball to center field. They pulled even in the fourth once Ray yielded a David Fry double and a Carlos Santana single.

Ray did not allow a baserunner until Johnathan Rodriguez led off the third with a triple. Austin Hedges’ flew out to the left-field warning track to plate Rodriguez and tie the score at 1. Ray escaped further damage, after Willy Adames botched a two-out grounder for his 11th error this season (tied for the majors’ most).

The Giants emerged with a 1-0 lead after one inning, courtesy of the action before and after Devers’ swing-and-miss debut. Dominic Smith’s two-out RBI single knocked in Jung Hoo Lee, who led off with a single and moved into scoring position once Heliot Ramos’ left elbow got plunked.

It was the 13th hit in 36 at-bats for Smith since his arrival two weeks ago. Although he started at first base Tuesday night, Wilmer Flores is slated to rotate into the lineup there for Wednesday’s game. Such is the juggling act manager Bob Melvin will attempt while grooming Devers for his first-ever action as a first baseman, at least when he’s not the DH in place of Flores.