Devers delivers SF Giants' latest grand slam to secure series victory over White Sox
SAN FRANCISCO - Welcome to Slam Francisco.
An afternoon after Harrison Bader hit his second grand slam in a week, Rafael Devers powered the Giants to an 8-5 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park with San Francisco’s third grand slam in the last eight days.
This marks the first time since 1924 that the Giants have hit three grand slams in eight days, as well as the first time since 1970 that San Francisco has hit three grand slams in a seven-game stretch.
“The quality of the at-bats has gotten better, so it’s provided more opportunities to do that,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said. “I think the way our story’s developed is our guys are starting to make progress to where we’re consistently driving the ball.”
The last time the Giants had grand slams in back-to-back games was when Casey Schmitt, who had a two-run homer Sunday, hit grand slams on June 13 and June 14 against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. When Schmitt was told that one of those two grand slams was off a position player (Kiké Hernández), Schmitt laughed and said, “Hey, they all count.”
Devers entered May with a .540 OPS, but he has slowly raised that figure to .700 over the last three-and-a-half weeks. Devers is hitting .301/.344/.590 with five home runs and 13 RBIs this month, looking much more like the foundational offensive centerpiece the Giants expected when they acquired him 11 months ago.
“Rafi is one of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” Schmitt said. “He’s so fun to be around. He’s funny. We love having him, and he loves being here. He’s a great person to be around, and that’s a guy you want to have in your corner.”
Devers’ grand slam, the seventh of his career, went the opposite way and shifted the energy at Oracle Park following a brutal top of the fifth.
The Giants entered the inning leading 4-2, but left-hander Robbie Ray walked two straight batters to open the fifth before he was pulled, ending his afternoon with a career-high seven walks. Vitello took his time walking to the mound, then lingered for a couple of moments before signaling for right-hander Keaton Winn.
Winn walked the first batter he faced, loading the bases with no outs, and Chicago tied the game at four on a groundout by Colson Montgomery and an RBI single by Edgar Quero. Second baseman Luis Arraez had a chance to turn a double play on Montgomery’s grounder but fumbled the ball and had to settle for one out.
The energy at Oracle Park turned back in the Giants’ favor in a hurry.
Willy Adames led off the bottom of the fifth with a double, setting the table for the heart of the order. Arraez painfully reached base when he was plunked in the lower back, the second time Chicago’s Noah Schultz had hit Arraez in that spot. The home crowd mercilessly booed Schultz as Arraez jogged off the pain, then cheered even louder when the pitcher was pulled from the game.
Schmitt, who homered in the third, loaded the bases by drawing a nine-pitch walk against newly installed reliever Grant Taylor to load the bases. Then, Devers unleashed the swing of the afternoon, hitting his seventh homer of the season and his first grand slam as a Giant.
“That (walk) probably won’t end up on whatever highlight everybody watches,” Vitello said. “But the (grand slam) can’t happen without that.”
Schmitt stayed hot by hitting another two-run homer after doing the same on Saturday. Schmitt, who started at first base on Sunday after playing left field on Saturday, has now homered while playing five different positions (first base, second base, third base, left field, designated hitter).
The utilityman has already hit a team-leading 11 home runs over 45 games, one away from matching the career-high 12 homers that he hit last season. Schmitt is on pace to hit 34 home runs this season and is making an early compelling case to make the All-Star team despite not having a defined position.
When asked what Schmitt means to the team, Vitello responded, “As much as José Oquendo meant to the St. Louis Cardinals when I was growing up.”
“Cardinals fans loved that guy for the reason our fans love Casey, but I mean, Casey’s different,” Vitello said. “(José) was just a Swiss Army knife defensively. I think Casey is a weapon in a lot of different ways,”
Ray endured another rough outing after surrendering a career-high 10 runs in his last start on May 18 when the Giants lost 12-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Sunday, along with the plentiful walks, Ray allowed four earned runs over four-plus innings.
Following the game, the left-hander conceded that his “mechanics are just a little off right now.”
“I haven’t really looked at it right now, but the ball is just not jumping out how it usually does,” Ray said. “So, I just need to figure out what’s different.”
Ray typically never wears sleeves when he pitches, but the lefty rocked black long sleeves under the Giants’ home cream jersey. He theorized after his last outing against the Diamondbacks that he may have been tipping, and he said he wore the sleeves “to hide a little bit on the tipping side with the glove.”
Up next
Starting Monday, the Giants host the Diamondbacks for three games after being swept by them last week. Right-hander Landen Roupp (5-4, 3.27 ERA) is scheduled to start on Memorial Day against the Diamondbacks’ Merrill Kelly, but Tuesday and Wednesday’s starters have yet to be announced.
Logan Webb said he feels physically ready to return to the rotation after making a rehab start on Friday with Triple-A Sacramento. Vitello said Webb is an option for Wednesday, but the team has yet to make a final decision.
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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 4:26 PM.