Rafael Devers hits first home run for Giants against former team Red Sox

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Rafael Devers hits first home run for Giants against former team Red Sox

2025-06-22 07:41 Last Updated At：07:50

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For Rafael Devers, his first home run for San Francisco felt similar to the 215 he hit for Boston — even if this one came against the Red Sox just six days after his surprising trade to the Giants.

Devers delighted his new fans in San Francisco when he connected for a two-run homer against his former team on Saturday to help fuel a 3-2 win for the Giants.

“Nothing more special than any other home run that I hit,” he said through an interpreter. “I’m just here and happy that I was able to contribute for the team’s win.”

Devers began his first series against the Red Sox by going 0 for 5 on Friday night and grounding out in his first at-bat Saturday. He then delivered just what his new team had been expecting when he hit an opposite-field drive off Brayan Bello over the left-field fence for a two-run homer in the third inning.

“That’s kind of typical him too, just let it travel and catch it late and block it out to left field,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s done it so many times in Boston. This park kind of plays that way to lefties as well. I think to get that one off his back, feels good about that, obviously being incredibly impactful in the outcome of the game. Now he can settle in and do his thing.”

Devers got loud cheers from the Oracle Park crowd of 39,027 as he rounded the bases for his 216th career home run that just happened to be caught by a fan in a Red Sox T-shirt.

“As soon as he hit it, you kind of feel almost a little weight fell off his shoulders when he hit that ball,” Giants starter Landen Roupp said. “You could just see it. We expect many more from him in that area. Really excited to have him on the team and he will be a huge help.”

Devers became the 10th player to homer for and against the same team in a span of seven days or fewer, according to Sportradar. The last player to do it was Abraham Toro, who homered for Houston against Seattle on July 26, 2021, and then for the Mariners against the Astros the next day.

This is the third time it happened with a player traded by the Red Sox. Don Lenhardt and Walt Dropo both did it in 1952, with their homers for Detroit against Boston coming in the same game on June 6 that season, three days after they were traded together in an eight-player deal.

Devers also joined Willie Mays, Jimmie Foxx and four other players who hit their first 200 career homers with one team and then had their first homer on their new team come against their former team.

Devers was traded by Boston less than two years into a 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension that he signed in 2023.

Devers’ relationship with the Red Sox began to deteriorate when the team signed Gold Glove third baseman Alex Bregman during spring training and asked Devers to move to DH; he balked before agreeing to the switch. When first baseman Triston Casas sustained a season-ending knee injury, the Red Sox approached Devers about playing the field and he declined, saying the front office “should do their jobs” and look for another player.

A day after Devers’ comments to the media about playing first, Red Sox owner John Henry, team president Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow flew to Kansas City to meet with Devers and manager Alex Cora.

Devers’ stance didn’t change and he was eventually traded to San Francisco where he is practicing at first base to play there later this season. Devers said Friday that he wouldn’t have done anything differently in his time in Boston, adding that he was as happy as he has been in years after joining the Giants.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

In their words: Survivors and others talk about fatal Swiss Alpine bar fire

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — In the aftermath of a fire inside a Swiss Alpine bar that killed 40 people celebrating the new year, survivors, friends and family members, the region’s top authorities and even Pope Leo have spoken to the public in remarks in French, Italian, German and English, reflecting the tradition of Swiss multilingualism.

Another 119 people were injured in the blaze early Thursday as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said. It was one of the deadliest tragedies in Switzerland’s history.

Investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire when they came too close to the ceiling of the crowded bar.

Here’s a look at what people said in the wake of the disaster:

— “I’m looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere,” Laetitia Brodard told reporters Friday in Crans-Montana as she searched for her son, 16-year-old Arthur. “I want to know, where is my child, and be by his side. Wherever that may be, be it in the intensive care unit or the morgue.”

— “We were bringing people out, people were collapsing. We were doing everything we could to save them, we helped as many as we could. We saw people screaming, running,” Marc-Antoine Chavanon, 14, told The Associated Press in Crans-Montana on Friday, recounting how he rushed to the bar to help the injured. “There was one of our friends: She was struggling to get out, she was all burned. You can’t imagine the pain I saw.”

— “It was hard to live through for everyone. Also probably because everyone was asking themselves, ‘Was my child, my cousin, someone from the region at this party?’” Eric Bonvin, general director of the regional hospital in Sion that took in dozens of injured people, told AP on Friday. “This place was very well known as somewhere to celebrate the new year,” Bonvin said. “Also, seeing young people arrive — that’s always traumatic.”

— “I have seen horror, and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation and rushed to the bar to help first responders, told France's TF1 television.

—“You will understand that the priority today is truly placed on identification, in order to allow the families to begin their mourning,” Beatrice Pilloud, the Valais region's attorney general, told reporters Friday during a news conference in Sion.

Pope Leo said in a telegram Friday to the bishop of Sion that he " wishes to express his compassion and concern to the relatives of the victims. He prays that the Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

— “We have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say of very strong solidarity in the moment,” Cantonal head of government Mathias Reynard told RTS radio Friday. "In the first minutes it was citizens — and in large part young people — who saved lives with their courage.”

— “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help," Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in the position that changes hands annually, told reporters Thursday.