Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY RICK PORCARO
Rafael Devers broke up an old fashioned pitchers duel with a three run sixth inning homer off of Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola to help power the Giants to a 5-0 win over the Phillies Wednesday afternoon at Oracle Park.
Rafael Devers is greeted at home plate by teammate Luis Arraez following Devers three run home run during the sixth inning of the Giants 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday afternoon.
Devers, who came into the game with a paltry .196 batting average, connected off Nola (1-1, 3.63) with a 436 foot blast to deep centerfield to put San Francisco up 3-0 after Nola had rather effortlessly sailed thru the first five innings before getting in trouble by giving up a one out double to Willy Adames and a walk to Luis Arraez, setting the stage for Devers heroics.
“We know that things aren’t always going to work out like we want, but those are just temporary stretches,” Devers said. “I know the type of hitter that I am. I don’t need to fear those stretches. I know things can turn positive at any moment. I feel good.”
Tyler Mahle pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball for the Giants, allowing just three hits to the potent Phillies lineup while striking out six. Devers would add an RBI single in the eighth for his fourth run batted in of the day. San Francisco’s second consecutive shutout gave the Giants consecutive wins at home for the first time this season.
Giants pitcher Tyler Mahle delivers a pitch while throwing 5 1/3 shutout innings during San Francisco’s 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Oracle Park Wednesday afternoon.
“We’re playing pretty decent ball right now. All in all, there’s plenty of positives to look at, but we’ve certainly got to be motivated to learn from mistakes in the past and hunt down the best version of ourselves,” San Francisco manager Tony Vitello said following the game.
Matt Gage came in to record the final two outs of the sixth to earn his first major league win. Caleb Kilian, Blade Tidwell and Erik Miller would cover the final three innings to finish off the shutout.
Following the game the Giants headed cross country for the start of a ten game road trip against Baltimore, Cincinnati and the Washington Nationals. Landon Roupp (1-1, 4.22) is scheduled to get the ball Friday night against the Orioles Shane Baz ((0-0, 4.09) in the opener.
