Rafael

Devers

The saga continues. San Francisco is attempting to work Devers into their cold corner rotation at some point in the second half, but lingering injury issues have prevented him from taking reps at the spot of late. The 28-year-old has never played the position at any point during his professional career. There’s zero indication that the issue will warrant a trip to the injured list, but it has impacted his mobility and will prevent him from playing the field for at least another week, if not longer.

Melvin added that Devers hasn’t even been cleared to play first base yet due to the ongoing physical issues. Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey told reporters earlier on Tuesday that it was “on the table” for Devers to play third base due to all of the injuries on the roster. Same drama, different coastline.

The Giants aren’t going to have Matt Chapman back for at least another week or two and they’ve had to resort to playing Wilmer Flores at the hot corner following injuries to Casey Schmitt and Christian Koss. The irony here is so thick you can drizzle it over pancakes.

The 28-year-old slugger got the Giants on the scoreboard with a 438-foot (110.7 mph EV) two-run blast off of Janson Junk in the third inning, pulling the Giants to within three runs at 5-2. Devers also singled in the first inning and doubled in the ninth. With his three-hit afternoon he’s now slashing .270/.396/.502 with 17 homers and 63 RBI on the season.

Devers, who has been playing through a lingering groin issue, has been fielding grounders at first base recently and appears poised to make his debut at the position in the near future. The 28-year-old slugger should get some extended runway at the cold corner with top prospect Bryce Eldridge, who was a potential call-up option in the near future, expected to miss 3-4 weeks with a hamstring strain.

Giants manager Bob Melvin said Sunday that there is no timetable for when Devers will play first base in a game setting and that they’re trying not to make the lingering groin issue, which isn’t impacting his hitting, any worse while putting him through defensive drills. It doesn’t sound like the 28-year-old slugger is going to be playing first base at any time in the near future.

Devers isn’t going to have as much luck going to the opposite field in San Francisco as he did in Boston, but he did clear the wall in left today with a 370-foot shot that left the bat at 105.5 mph. He grounded out twice and struck out in his other at-bats.

Giants manager Bob Melvin has flip-flopped Devers and Heliot Ramos on his lineup card after the former went 0-for-5 during Friday’s series opener against his former club. The 28-year-old slugger will attempt to get back on track when he squares off against former teammate Brayan Bello on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park.

Devers suffered his first consequence from having his home games in San Francisco rather than Boston tonight, as his third-inning, 385-foot flyout to left-center would have been a homer in five ballparks and a double in Fenway. Devers is 3-for-16 with a double and one RBI in four games for his new team.

Devers was unable to find success in his first game against his former club. The 28-year-old has gone 3-for-16 since being acquired by the Giants in the blockbuster deal with Boston with one double and five strikeouts. Those results should turn around quickly.