SAN FRANCISCO — The groundout that helped Logan Webb get through the seventh inning Thursday would have seemed unimaginable for the Giants a few months ago, and not just because of the obvious fact that the scoop came from Rafael Devers, who began his season in Boston and spent part of it pushing back on the idea of becoming a first baseman.

Early in the year, Willy Adames was so shaky defensively that members of the organization wondered how long the most expensive shortstop in franchise history would actually be able to stay at the position. 

And yet there he was on Thursday, ranging well into the hole and then making a leaping throw to try and get the speedy Nico Hoerner. When the throw arrived in time, Devers made the type of scoop you would expect from someone who has been playing first his entire life. 

Webb raised both arms, pounded his glove and then pointed to Adames, who was in the middle of everything the Giants did in a 4-3 win. 

Adames’ second multi-homer game in a week kept the Giants in it all afternoon, and when Jung Hoo Lee lined his first career walk-off into right field, Adames was the first to greet Christian Koss at the plate.

JHL CALLS GAME WITH HIS FIRST WALK-OFF 👏 pic.twitter.com/KHtNWndySW

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 28, 2025

The shortstop channeled his inner Tim Flannery and arrived at the same time as a wide throw, and then he made a beeline for Lee, who knew what was coming. 

BE CAREFUL WITH HIM 😅 pic.twitter.com/aPo0qhGOvB

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 28, 2025

Lee has been waiting for nearly two seasons for his first big league walk-off, and earlier this year, he watched the Giants, in a much different place, pick up nine of them in the first half. He was often the one throwing the hardest jabs in the celebrations, and as he ran toward the outfield grass Thursday, he felt revenge might be coming. 

“I was trying to run away from the boys,” Lee said later, smiling. 

All of it looked familiar. 

This is who the Giants were until July, when they forgot how to win at home and forced their front office into a deadline sale. For weeks now, the attention has turned to 2026 and the decisions that president of baseball operations Buster Posey might have to make. Posey, though, probably doesn’t think there’s too much heavy lifting to be done.

You don’t have to squint much to see the makings of a team that can reach the postseason with this core. A night after Devers hit two homers, Adames did the same. Devers has 27 on the year and Adames is at 24.

Leadoff hitter Heliot Ramos and cleanup hitter Matt Chapman should both reach 20 homers. Lee already has 10 triples and 30 doubles, which is more his game, and in the second half, he has looked like a .300 hitter in the big leagues. 

What happened in July and early August? The Giants still are not sure. But they’re happy to at least look more dangerous during this five-game winning streak. 

“Look, these are guys we signed for quite some time here and we expect production,” manager Bob Melvin said of Adames and Devers. “And Chapman behind them. I thought of that today, too, when they ended up (hitting) two-three-four … these are guys that we expect to be in those types of spots for years to come. The way Rafi is swinging right now, we’ll try to get him up there as much as we can in the two-hole, and Willy has been the homer guy here for a little bit now.”

Adames has 15 of them in the last two months, and he has a real shot at becoming the first Giant since 2004 to reach 30. His numbers should end up in a really good place in Year One as a Giant, which is part of what makes their overall position — 66-68 — so baffling. 

The Giants just took back-to-back series from the Milwaukee Brewers and Cubs, both of whom are headed for the postseason. But they’re still 6 1/2 out of a playoff spot themselves with just 28 games to go. 

“We are a pretty good team,” Adames said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Giants Postgame Live” after the win. “We have really good talent in the clubhouse. When we’re playing our best baseball, we’re one of the best teams in the league and this series says it all. 

“I feel like we’re resilient, we’re not going to give up, and we’re going to continue to make adjustments we have to as a team and come out here and play our best baseball.”

The Giants haven’t given up on that mindset leading to a miracle down the stretch, but at the very least, they would like to finish strong. They’d like to show that there’s enough talent already here that Posey should continue to be aggressive in the offseason, and during this series, they did that.

“It feels like old times,” Melvin said as he talked of the strong overall day and late rally. “We were doing that a lot early on and it just felt like any time we got in that position earlier in the season, we were going to win a game. Here at home, in a close game, that was kind of our calling card.”

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