Rafael Devers blasts first Giants home run against Red Sox to get some post-divorce revenge

Rafael Devers is suddenly talking with his bat.
One day after he dodged most questions about his breakup with the Red Sox and trade to the Giants, Devers hit his first home run in a new uniform Saturday and it came at his old team's expense.
Devers went 0-for-5 in his first game against the Red Sox but responded with a big fly in one of MLB's hardest parks to go deep.
Advertisement
Devers went 3-for-11 against the Guardians in his first series after the trade.
But that was nothing compared to the spotlight placed on the weekend reunion after the ugly divorce.
Advertisement
The All-Star took a pitch the opposite way for a two-run shot in the third inning, extending the Giants' lead to 3-0.
He did not appear to taunt the Red Sox or manager Alex Cora, or treat the home run any differently than those hit while playing for the Red Sox.
Devers was surprisingly dealt after an untenable situation brought on by the addition of Alex Bregman to play third base instead of Devers, and Devers' refusal to learn first base this season after Triston Casas was injured.
San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers watches his two-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in San Francisco, Saturday, June 21, 2025.
AP
Advertisement
San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers, right, smiles after hitting a two-run home run that also scored Andrew Knizner (21) during the third inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in San Francisco, Saturday, June 21, 2025.
AP
'I don't want to talk about the past,' Devers said before Friday's game. 'I just want to concentrate on my new team and my new teammates.'
The future will be bright with more days like Saturday.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Nets' D'Angelo Russell is really high on Spurs' Victor Wembanyama

The Brooklyn Nets are still early in their offseason and many of the players are enjoying their summers before they have to come back to Brooklyn to try to improve on the 26-56 record from this season. D'Angelo Russell has been taking full advantage of his time off by touring China as part of his signature shoe promotion, but he also took the time to talk about an upcoming great NBA player. "Victor Wembanyama... He's slick. I'm telling y'all now, I'm putting this on air. Remember, I gave him his flowers last time," Russell said of San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama during the latest episode of his "The Backyard Podcast" show. Russell's podcast is not only for him to talk about what's on his mind, but also acts as a vlog of sorts that shows what he is doing behind the scenes. Advertisement "This is a big statement. If they (the NBA) ever change the logo, it might be him," Russell continued while speaking about Wembanyama. "He's that special... I'm just really high on Victor Wembanyama. I think he's really special." Wembanyama, 21, is considered one of the players in the "up-and-coming" tiers usually attributed to young players that have the appearance of someone destined for stardom and he hasn't disappointed thus far. Wembanyama, the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, is not only boasting career averages of 22.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.7 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 46.9% from the field and 33.9% from three-point land, but he has always made waves in the league in terms of his accomplishments. Wembanyama, listed at 7-foot-3 and 235 pounds, was the Rookie of the Year for the 2023-24 season while being named to the All-Defensive First Team, is a one-time All-Star, and has led the NBA in blocks per game the past two seasons. Russell is a free-agent this summer and while he has spoken about wanting to come back to Brooklyn, there could be a chance that he signs with the Spurs considering his feelings about Wembanyama's future. This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' D'Angelo Russell is really high on Spurs' Victor Wembanyama

New York Times

2 hours ago

• New York Times

Red Sox takeaways: Sloppy defense returns in wasted opportunity; Hunter Dobbins to IL

SAN FRANCISCO – A quiet visitors clubhouse, players scrolling on their phones at their lockers, spoke volumes about a missed opportunity Sunday. The Boston Red Sox stormed into San Francisco Friday night, the weight of the Rafael Devers trade five days prior looming large with the longtime slugger in the opposing dugout. Advertisement That night, Boston's offense scored its most runs in a game since Devers' departure, holding Devers hitless in return. But the opener proved the lone highlight of the weekend in an otherwise frustrating series for the Red Sox, one that culminated in a rough 9-5 loss to San Francisco on Sunday. Manager Alex Cora and outfielder Jarren Duran were ejected in the eighth when Duran was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. The sloppy play that has characterized much of the season for the Red Sox had dissipated of late, but reared its head again Sunday. Two key errors led to five unearned runs on the day. It marked the second time this year the Red Sox had allowed five or more unearned runs in a game, with six unearned runs on April 11 in Chicago their worst. 'We've got to play better defense,' Cora said. 'The whole weekend was kind of sloppy in that department.' The Red Sox entered Sunday having won eight of their past 10 games with a chance to win their fifth straight series. They'd carried a business-as-usual approach since the massive trade that shocked the baseball world exactly one week ago. But after three games, they walked away with just one win, slouching back to 40-39. Against one of the league's best lefty starters in Robbie Ray, the Red Sox battled early, knocking him out after five innings and taking advantage of the Giants' own mistakes. But as they have too often this season, they let it slip away. The Giants took a 2-1 lead in the third when Duran and Nate Eaton, starting his first game for the Red Sox since being added to the roster following the Devers trade, converged in shallow left field and let a fly ball drop between them. 'It was just loud, I was calling for it, I don't think he heard me,' Duran said. 'He's a freak athlete. He got all the way out there, too. So it was just one of those things we haven't played together a lot.' Advertisement In the seventh, after the Red Sox had pulled ahead 5-4 on a Ceddanne Rafaela solo homer, Romy Gonzalez, starting just his second game at second base, dropped a routine line drive that allowed the go-ahead run to score. The Giants put up four runs in the inning. 'We're major leaguers, that play has to be made 100 out of 100 times,' Gonzalez said. David Hamilton, a stronger defender, sat Sunday with the left-hander Ray on the mound and Gonzalez's 1.020 OPS against lefties, needed in the lineup. Hamilton, meanwhile, had also made two miscues over the weekend at second. Gonzalez hit a solo homer off Ray in the fifth, but his error in the seventh let the game unravel. It highlighted the strains of an imperfect roster with many moving parts. Boston's baserunning mistakes returned Sunday, too. In the eighth, Duran led off with a shot down the right-field line and slid into second base, but came off the back for a millisecond and was tagged out. The play went under review, but the call stood. Duran argued and was thrown out. Cora charged out and was subsequently tossed too. Alex Cora doubles down on the call that Jarren Duran was ruled out on 🎙️ "He [was] safe. Clearly." — NESN (@NESN) June 22, 2025 Cora said he was more frustrated about a play earlier in the game when Abraham Toro was called out at home after a Rafaela double. As the ball came to the plate, Toro tried to jump around catcher Patrick Bailey and was called out for being out of the base path. 'My whole frustration at the end was more at that (Toro play) and obviously the first game, the check swings and all that,' Cora said. 'It is what it is. I hate to get thrown out, I hate it, but obviously I have to defend my player.' Cora insisted it was one sloppy series in the midst of a good stretch, but the Red Sox have lost their benefit of the doubt and need to keep proving they can play cleaner baseball more consistently. Advertisement More takeaways and notes from the weekend as the Red Sox head to Anaheim for three more games: Another day, another rotation injury. Sunday, the Red Sox placed right-hander Hunter Dobbins on the injury list with a right elbow strain. The team recalled right-hander Richard Fitts. Following Dobbins' start Friday against the Giants, in which he allowed five runs, four earned in four innings of work, Dobbins said he noticed a velocity drop to the low 90s. 'Nothing really felt right,' he said Friday. 'It kind of gets in your head when you look up at the velo board when you see 91 when you're expecting 96, so I'm going to see if it was something mechanical. 'You notice it, you kind of feel it, that kind of was the feeling I had,' he said. 'I knew I could generate it because it showed up a few times.' Cora said after the game that Dobbins played catch just before Sunday's game and felt slightly better, but the team opted to not push him in his next start. Fitts is expected to start in Dobbins' place Wednesday. Dobbins bounced back and forth between the Red Sox and Triple A Worcester over the first month of the season, first making a spot start for an injured Fitts (pectoral strain) and then entering the rotation more permanently when Walker Buehler landed on the IL with shoulder bursitis in early May. In 12 games, 10 starts, Dobbins posted a 4.10 ERA. Fitts started three games for the Red Sox at the start of the season, posting a 3.18 ERA, before missing six weeks with a pectoral strain then being optioned to Triple A Worcester. Over the weekend, Cora also revealed right-hander Kutter Crawford, who made 30 starts last year for Boston but has yet to make a start this season, had another setback while rebabbing in Fort Myers, Fla. Crawford began the year on the injury list with a right knee injury but over the course of the spring developed a wrist injury. He's flying back to Boston and will have tests on Monday. Advertisement 'The knee and the wrist, kind of like he wasn't able to generate velocity,' Crawford said. 'So that's a concern, a concern for him too, if he's trying to push something, then his shoulder comes into play. So shut him down. He'll be in Boston in the upcoming days, and we'll know more next week.' Tanner Houck, who's been on the IL with a flexor pronator strain since mid May, is set for a second rehab start Tuesday with Worcester. In addition to Crawford, Houck, Fitts, Dobbins and Buehler, the Red Sox also had starters Brayan Bello (shoulder strain) and Lucas Giolito (hamstring) miss time this season on the IL. When the Red Sox optioned Campbell to Worcester on Friday, they did so with the intention of helping him slow things down. Cora noted the purpose is not for Campbell to head back to Triple A and hit .500, but to work on fundamentals and on doing less. With that in mind as the WooSox head on a road trip to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this week, the Red Sox are keeping Campbell behind in Worcester to get in extra work with the team's development staff, including director of hitting Jason Ochart, hitting coordinator John Soteropulos and field coordinator Andrew Wright. 'Be aggressive early in counts, recognize the fastballs, the different types of them,' Cora said of what Campbell will work on. 'We all know what he struggled with. So give him a little bit of a reset and then walk him through what we want. So that's the thought process. But he needs to play. I think at the end of the day, you gain experience playing nine innings and going through every situation.' The plan is for Campbell to rejoin the WooSox in Scranton on Thursday or Friday. In 67 games, the 23-year-old Campbell won Rookie of the Month in April, but hit just .159 with a .465 OPS after May 1. Advertisement Reliever Jordan Hicks, acquired as part of the Devers trade, began a rehab assignment with Worcester on Sunday following a toe injury in early June. Hicks had a rocky first rehab outing, allowing a single, a two-run homer, a single and a walk. He got two outs, but was lifted after 23 pitches, 10 strikes. Cora suggested Hicks might be ready to join the Red Sox during their next homestand that begins Friday, but also noted they won't rush him since he hasn't pitched in three weeks. Hicks had started and relieved this year for San Francisco, but the Red Sox will use him out of the bullpen.

Newsweek

2 hours ago

• Newsweek

Cubs Trade Idea For All-Star Flamethrower Would End Ryan Pressly 'Nightmare'

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. When the Chicago Cubs traded for Ryan Pressly in the offseason, they envisioned him being a dominant closer for their team. However, the two-time All-Star has a 4.03 ERA. The Cubs were leading the National League Central entering play on Sunday. However, the team may be interested in bringing in another option to close games, and preferably one with club control. Pressly will be a free agent after the season, and FanSided's Christopher Kline suggested the Cubs swing a blockbuster trade for Athletics' flamethrower Mason Miller to "end their Ryan Pressly Nightmare." TOKYO, JAPAN - MARCH 15: Ryan Pressly #55 of the Chicago Cubs throws in the bottom of the second inning against Hanshin Tigers at Tokyo Dome on March 15, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. TOKYO, JAPAN - MARCH 15: Ryan Pressly #55 of the Chicago Cubs throws in the bottom of the second inning against Hanshin Tigers at Tokyo Dome on March 15, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. Masterpress/Getty Images Miller, 26, was an All-Star last season and is under club control through 2029. His ERA is not as good as last season, but he still has an elite arsenal and would be a huge boost to any bullpen. He has a 5.02 ERA on the year. "It has been so rough that you can argue the Cubs would be better off targeting a more immediate and well-proven solution like Bednar or Bird," wrote Kline. "But in the end, Miller's arsenal and potential longevity makes him something of a dream addition, even if he has a few kinks left to work through in the near future. If Chicago can tempt the A's into the right package of prospects, Miller has a chance to headline the Cubs bullpen for many years to come." Trading a prospect haul for Miller would allow the Cubs to adopt a closer-by-committee approach, and then see him take over as the closer after Pressly's contract expires. Last season, Miller had a 2.49 ERA in 55 games and a 0.877 WHIP. He notched 28 saves on the season. More MLB: Trio of Cubs Relief Pitchers Turning In Surprising Stats This Season