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What we learned as Rafael Devers, Drew Cavanaugh fuel Giants' win vs. Reds
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- What we learned as Rafael Devers, Drew Cavanaugh fuel Giants' win vs. Reds
What we learned as Rafael Devers, Drew Cavanaugh fuel Giants' win vs. Reds originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants have had an odd 18 innings against the Cincinnati Reds . Their lineups look like a March split-squad, and they have lost their starting pitcher to injury on consecutive nights. Oracle Park is seeing the smallest crowds of the 2026 MLB season, and it's not particularly close.
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At the same time, they're playing some pretty solid baseball.
The bullpen came up with 22 outs on Tuesday in a tidy 3-1 win over the Reds. That set the stage for Landen Roupp , who will try to clinch the first sweep of the season on Wednesday afternoon.
This game started in a weird way, with Brady Singer hitting two Giants — one seemingly intentionally — and walking one. Drew Cavanaugh made him pay, smoking a two-run single that got the Giants on the board first for a second straight night.
The Giants lost Adrian Houser to injury the next inning, but the bullpen came up big. Anthony Molina , acquired in the Tyler Mahle trade, threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings in his Giants debut and showed good velocity. Sam Hentges had a clean seventh and Trent Harris continued to impress in the eighth.
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Carson Seymour got his first save opportunity in the big leagues and got greeted by a solo blast from fellow rookie Sal Stewart . He recovered, though, becoming the 10th Giants pitcher to record a save this season.
Another One …
Houser was removed after just 26 pitches, and there certainly was a lot of concern. Like Carson Whisenhunt a night earlier , Houser started flexing his forearm after throwing a pitch and was immediately removed. His velocity dipped a couple mph before he was walked back to the clubhouse.
There's never a good time to feel arm pain, but this was particularly cruel for Houser, who finally was back in the rotation and seemingly had a real opportunity to try to win a spot the rest of the year and even going into next season. Houser had a 1.50 ERA in 11 appearances — 10 out of the bullpen — since June 26, and he has made no secret of the fact that he wants to be a starter again . He now is headed for an MRI and hoping for the best.
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Red-hot Rafi
Rafael Devers padded the lead with a solo blast in the fifth that bounced into McCovey Cove. It was the 28th of the season for Devers, who is swinging such a hot bat right now that he might reach 30 by the end of the month, or even the end of the homestand. That would give the Giants back-to-back thirty-homer seasons after nearly two decades without one.
The homer went 400 feet and Devers swung so hard that he ended up watching it from the right-handed batter's box. It was his 16th this season at Oracle Park, the most by a Giant since Barry Bonds hit 16 at home in 2007. Devers joined Bonds and Willie Mays as the only players to have at least 48 homers in their first 222 games with the team.
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When the Giants acquired Devers, they did so in large part because he was part of a small group of Oracle-proof hitters like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge . That certainly has proven to be the case.
All Over The Place
The game started with a pitch behind Drew Gilbert 's back, and then one that struck his leg. For some reason, Brady Singer appeared to have some beef with Gilbert, although he was at the University of Florida years before Gilbert starred at Tennessee. It also could have been retaliation for Erik Miller 's final out earlier this season, although doing that in the second game of the next series would be odd.
Regardless, Gilbert and the Giants got their revenge, and Gilbert had another big night. The highlight was a spectacular catch in left-center that left a mark on the padding of the wall.
Gilbert stayed down for about a minute, and trainer Ryo Watanabe — the busiest man in the ballpark on Tuesday — ran out to check on him. He stayed in the game and didn't appear to have any additional issues.
