SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants entered a weekend series against the San Diego Padres with about as much momentum as they’ve had all season after recording their first true sweep of the season earlier in the week.

Like Wednesday, San Francisco found itself in a big hole and made good progress towards escaping it with a fourth consecutive win. But on Friday, the hole was too deep, as the Giants fell 7-5 to the Padres at Oracle Park.

The Giants scored early against old friend Robbie Ray, but the Padres responded with seven runs in the next two innings against starter Anthony Molina, seemingly taking control of the game.

San Francisco got things going again in the fifth, as a double and two walks loaded the bases for Rafael Devers — who just so happens to be the hottest hitter on the planet right now.

Wednesday’s day off doesn’t appear to have halted that momentum, as Devers golfed a breaking ball — a pretty good pitch from Ray — into the right-field arcade to put the Giants right back in the game.

Yunior Marte’s five shutout innings in relief helped keep San Francisco in it, too.

With deadly closer Mason Miller in for the save in the ninth, the Giants set the table for Devers to be the potential winning run with two on and two out. But it wasn’t Devers’ moment to shine a second time; he walked to load the bases for Bryce Eldridge, who already has a walk-off grand slam in 2026.

The rookie couldn’t do it again, striking out looking to end the game.

Here are the takeaways from the Giants’ 86th loss of the season:

Ray’s rocky return

In his first start against his former team after being dealt to San Diego at the MLB trade deadline, the Giants greeted Ray with an early run in the first inning via an Eldridge RBI single.

After the inning, the Giants played a tribute video for Ray on the video board. Perhaps that sparked something in the veteran lefty, who retired nine of the next 10 batters he faced and looked to be coasting to a comfortable outing.

Ray couldn’t carry that momentum through the fifth inning, though, when he walked two batters in front of Devers. And that hasn’t ended well for anyone lately.

In his return to Oracle Park, Ray finished with a line of five earned runs on four hits and four walks in five innings, while striking out five. In seven starts with the Padres since the trade deadline, the 34-year-old has a 5.35 ERA in 33.2 innings with 25 strikeouts to 24 walks. By comparison, Ray had 107 strikeouts to 57 walks for the Giants before being dealt.

Rafi remains red hot

Devers’ fifth-inning grand slam was both the ninth of his career and San Francisco’s ninth of the 2026 MLB season.

On the Giants’ side, it’s the most of any team in the majors this season and tied for the most in a season in franchise history with the 2015 team, which also finished with nine slams. There are 14 more games left in the year to get that elusive 10th.

For the player, Devers now is up to 36 homers and 96 RBI in what has turned out to be a fairly strong season for the 29-year-old. He also has 18 round-trippers at Oracle Park this year, which is the most in a single campaign by anyone not named Barry Bonds at the Giants’ current ballpark.

Rafael Devers has 18 home runs at Oracle Park this season

That’s the most at the venue since Barry Bonds hit 26 there in 2004

Devers and Bonds (5x) are the only players to hit at least that many homers there in a season https://t.co/rRPLxboRCt

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 12, 2026

Molina mania might be no more

Molina entered Friday with a 1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings and a 3-0 record in his three previous Giants starts. He also owned a 1.42 career ERA against the Padres in four relief appearances during his time with the Colorado Rockies.

Neither trend held up, as Molina had easily his worst outing since being acquired from the Atlanta Braves at the deadline in exchange for Tyler Mahle.

The 24-year-old surrendered seven runs (all earned) on nine hits and two walks in only three innings of work. It wasn’t like the Padres were getting lucky with bloopers that found the outfield grass, either — six of those nine hits were hard-hit balls with at least a 95 mph exit velocity.

Marte, another pleasant surprise of late for the Giants’ staff, entered in relief to start the fourth. He allowed just three hits and two walks in five scoreless innings.

Though Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the eighth with a triple, Marte got Jake Cronenworth to ground out softly and struck out Manny Machado. Finally, an inning-ending flyout by Luis Campusano stranded Tatis and kept it a two-run game.

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