{"id":801130,"date":"2026-09-10T04:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T04:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/801130\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T04:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T04:00:22","slug":"giants-vitello-gives-rafael-devers-day-off-to-end-games-streak-at-309","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/801130\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants’ Vitello gives Rafael Devers day off to end games streak at 309"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rafael\u00a0Devers<\/a> ceded duties as the lone member of the Opening Day lineup in the San Francisco Giants<\/a>\u2019 batting order Wednesday, with a day off that, according to manager Tony Vitello<\/a>, will end Devers\u2019 consecutive games streak at\u00a0309.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reigning\u00a0NL Player of the Week, Devers had been so hot lately that it had been tough to get him any time off his legs, and with the Giants not in contention and many of the veterans on the injured list, Vitello had wanted to be cautious with\u00a0Devers when possible. Devers, who has a history of hamstring issues, was on base often during his recent tear, scoring 17 runs in 16 games and putting up a 1.411 OPS.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Devers\u2019 hitless night Tuesday, coupled with a Giants off day Thursday, presented the best opportunity for Vitello to give the first baseman-DH some well-deserved rest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ideal situation is to have the day today and the day tomorrow,\u201d\u00a0Vitello said. \u201cI don\u2019t mean to speak for him, but I think he hit a little bit of a wall. When you\u2019re hitting well, you\u2019re on base all the time, so you add all those sprints in. He\u2019s our best first-to-third guy, period. He\u2019s legged out a couple doubles. All those things add up for sure on top of all the stress of carrying the offense. I\u2019ve learned you double up the two days in a row, it can really serve as beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

The games-played streak is the third highest in the game behind Matt\u00a0Olson\u2019s 927 and Pete Alonso\u2019s 562.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s massive,\u201d Vitello said of the total, \u201cbut I think it was time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitello said Devers is often dealing with some leg issues, playing through everything \u201cfrom toe to hip,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One of the best developments in the second half has been Devers\u2019 emergence as a true leader, something he\u2019s appeared to embrace.\u00a0Vitello mentioned that Devers had kept the mood light at New York last week with some clubhouse antics that Vitello enjoyed so much, he sent the video to third baseman Matt Chapman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat probably needs to stay out of the public eye, but it just kind of encapsulates the fun and the leadership,\u201d Vitello said, adding that Devers emerging as a veteran leader \u201cis one of the best things I\u2019ve ever experienced as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Devers is also chasing 40 homers; he\u2019s five shy with 16 games left entering the day. He\u2019d homered nine times over the previous 16 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just been ridiculous,\u201d said rookie Bryce\u00a0Eldridge<\/a>, who\u2019s established himself as Devers\u2019 protection in the order. \u201cPretty cool to watch from the on-deck circle. It\u2019s like every single time he came up to bat, he was either getting walked or he was going to punish a baseball. You felt like, \u2018All right, he can\u2019t keep doing it,\u2019 and then every single day he just keeps doing something crazier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayer update: Vitello said infielder Marcelo Mayer, acquired from the Red Sox on Aug. 3 for lefty Erik Miller, is getting closer to potentially playing for the Giants before the season ends. Mayer, out with a foot issue, had a great batting-practice session Tuesday, according to Vitello, who also worked with Mayer before Wednesday\u2019s game, tapping him grounders from 10 feet away in a dexterity drill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe clock is winding down, so maybe we can sneak it in under the gun,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cThat presents the question: Do you just want to throw him in the fire? We know what he wants, he wants to wear a Giants uniform before the year\u2019s out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rafael\u00a0Devers ceded duties as the lone member of the Opening Day lineup in the San Francisco Giants\u2019 batting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,162,863,66,185],"class_list":["post-801130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-baseball","tag-giants","tag-rafael-devers","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117244750961292330","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}