Kai-Wei Teng #66 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Washington Nationals in the top of the second inning at Oracle Park on August 08, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Mandatory Photo Credit: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO — Having lost their last eight home games and in desperate need of a home skid-snapping win, the Giants took care of the Nationals 5-0 at Oracle Park on Friday night.

Rafael Devers and Casey Schmitt headlined the offense on Friday night, but it was opener Matt Gage and longman Kai-Wei Teng who put the Giants on solid footing in the victory.

Bob Melvin and the Giants elected to go with Gage as the opener on Friday, and it worked perfectly. Gage worked a clean first inning while striking out one Nationals hitter.

Then came the longman out of the pen, Kai-Wei Teng. Teng, who made the majority of his 25 appearances out of the bullpen for Triple-A Sacramento this year, tossed five innings of scoreless baseball on Friday. Teng scattered three hits and a walk across his five innings while striking out four in his outing.

“It looked like he was on it right away for having to sit there and wait for the second inning,” Melvin said after the game. “A little different for him. He pitched some relief a little bit here, but you get a little anxious as a starter and you have to sit down there for an inning, and he looked like he was throwing strikes right away with his breaking ball and used his fastball better today. So it was really good.”

After Teng, the Giants got scoreless innings from Joey Lucchesi and José Buttó before Tristan Beck came in to close the game in the ninth inning. Beck got three fly balls to right field to end the game with a clean top of the ninth.

The Giants’ defense was on full display as well. Logan Gilbert and Rafael Devers stood out, both making spectacular plays in the field behind the Giants’ pitching staff.

Gilbert, who was also making his MLB debut on Friday, made a fantastic diving catch to end the third inning that took him to the edge of the grass and onto the warning track near the right-field line.

“… You get an open angle from right field, right-handed hitter, and I can kind of see that he was getting beaten a little bit,” Gilbert said after the win. “So I was able to get a better jump based off that, but I almost lost my footing in the dirt once I went over the line. So thankfully I was able to hold onto the ball.”

Devers added more sparkling defense as he turned a 3-6 double play and got a crucial out at home on a 3-2 putout as he was sliding to his right with the infield in.

After the game, Bob Melvin told me that Devers has been putting in a lot of work at first base and has been looking good.

“You watch him work, especially these night games — he’s working, and then he’s taking his batting practice, and he’s going back out there again. So whether it’s picks in the dirt, whether it’s turns to second, you try to create as many plays as he hasn’t seen, and he’s working through all of ’em, and you just see him more and more comfortable every day. If you can play third base in the big leagues, which he has, you’re going to be able to play first pretty well, but it’s just all the different plays, cutoffs, and relays — stuff like that — that he hasn’t been through before. But he’s looking pretty good over there right now.”

On the offensive end, the Giants put pressure on the Nationals’ staff all game long. The Giants totaled 10 hits and four runs on the night. Rafael Devers got the Giants going with a solo home run in the first inning that sailed over the right-center field wall. The shot traveled 427 feet and was a no-doubter off the bat of the Giants’ early deadline acquisition. Matt Chapman kept the party going in the first inning adding an RBI single that scored Willy Adames from second base. Casey Schmitt added two runs for the Giants in the sixth inning with a two-run moonshot to left field that went 374 feet but with a 40-degree launch angle. Patrick Bailey capped the scoring with an RBI infield single that scored Jung Hoo Lee from second after the Nationals failed to cover home when catcher Drew Millas pounced on the ball in front of the plate.

It was a classic Giants win where they got good pitching and timely hitting to seal the deal.

The Giants improved to 59-57 on the season and are now four games back of the New York Mets for the third wild card spot and eight games back of the L.A. Dodgers in the NL West.

Carson Whisenhunt (1-0, 4.35 ERA) will go for the Giants as the Nationals send Brad Lord (2-6, 3.42 ERA) to the hill on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. PST at Oracle Park.

Drew Gilbert makes his MLB debut

Acquired in the Tyler Rogers trade to the New York Mets, outfield utility man Drew Gilbert made his first appearance in the orange and black on Friday, getting the starting nod in right field. Gilbert didn’t disappoint defensively, recording five outs and making one spectacular diving catch.

After the game, Gilbert told me it was a dream come true and appreciated the fan support after his diving catch.

“… I don’t want to say it’s good to get it out of the way, but definitely awesome to get a win, that’s for sure… very cool experience.”

Gilbert went on to talk about the reception from fans in his later at-bats: “That was a super cool, super cool moment. Obviously, the at-bat doesn’t end how you want, but either way I’ll have that memory for the rest of my life. So I really appreciate the fans for that. And they brought it tonight, and they were behind us.”

At the plate, Gilbert went 0-for-4 but isn’t letting that faze him.

“… You’re going to be a little amped up in your debut, right? So I don’t want to say you throw results out the window, but you take everything with a little grain of salt just because it is an experience that you haven’t really felt, probably playing in front of 30-plus thousand people.”