San Francisco Giants (#16) Rafael Devers is all smiles after hitting his ninth career grand slam and his 36th home run of the season in an MLB game against the San Diego Padres on Friday, September 11th, 2026, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, CA. (Photo credit to Jae Choi)

By Michael Villanueva

SAN FRANCISCO – After the San Francisco Giants’ 3-game winning sweep at home on the St. Louis Cardinals. The San Francisco Giants (62-86) hosted the San Diego Padres (79-68) on Friday night in San Francisco for game one out of three starting this weekend. However, it was the Padres taking game one 7-5, and San Diego’s starting pitcher, former San Francisco Giants pitcher as well, Robbie Ray would get the win. This gave Giants starter Anthony Molina his first loss.

This was the first time the San Francisco Giants faced off against LHP Robbie Ray since dealing him to San Diego at the trade deadline. Ray has gone 1-2 with a 4.71 ERA in his six starts with San Diego with the Padres losing four of the six games. Ray also posted a 6-1 record over 11 starts with San Francisco at Oracle Park earlier this year. This game was Robbie’s 100th career win as the winning pitcher.

The San Francisco Giants would strike first with Jonah Cox scoring. Cox would get on base with a single on a line drive to right field. Setting up his teammate Bryce Eldridge to bring him in, he delivers as Eldridge got himself a single and helped give the Giants their only lead of the night, 1-0.

Right after that, going into the top of the second inning, the San Diego Padres would respond. Padres Jackson Merrill hits a ground-rule double, his 24th of the season, to left-field. Then Dustin Harris would get a single on his turn at-bat and bring in Merrill to score and tie the game 1-1. Next, Freddy Fermin would also hit a double, his 12th of the season, and bring in Harris to score for San Diego 2-1.

After a quick three-out trip for San Francisco. The Padres weren’t done with their hitting spree. At the top of the third inning, Jake Cronenworth singles on a sharp line drive to right field. Luis Campusano would get a double, his 12th double of the season, and bring in Cronenworth to score for San Diego 3-1. Then Jackson Merrill comes back to hit and himself a single. With Campusano stealing to third base, and Merrill on first base. Padres Xander Bogaerts joins the fun with a double and brings in Campusano and Merrill to score, 5-1.

The Padres still weren’t done with the Giants; after Bogaerts’ double, Dustin Harris would get a triple to bring Bogaerts to score, 6-1. Then Freddy Fermin was still feeling hot as het would got another double at Oracle Park. So Harris would add on to the runs and change the score to 7-1, Padres leading through the third inning.

It wouldn’t take long for the Giants to get their hitting going. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Giants Andrew Knizner gets on base with a double, then Cox and Koss gets walked, getting the bases loaded and setting up big hitter Rafael Devers. So Devers delivers for San Francisco as he hits a grand slam to right field, also making this his 36th homer of the season. The score would get as close as 7-5 after Devers big hit in Oracle Park.

The Padres tallied up 12 hits in this game against the Giants bullpen. This was the team’s eleventh meeting this season, with the Padres extending their season series lead to 7-4. Losing pitcher Anthony Molina for San Francisco had a shot at becoming the team’s third pitcher to win his first four games with the Giants since the franchise moved to San Francisco.

In the last and final moments of the game, San Francisco did have a chance for a comeback win. With the bases loaded and two outs. Giants Bryce Eldridge stepped up to the plate with the team on his back, hoping for a miracle. Eldridge in the last series had five hits and seven RBI’s, so the fans were right behind him for a miracle. However, going against the Padres closer Mason Miller would be brutal, as Miller would strike out Eldridge and give the team and the fans a home loss in this Friday night game. The final score for the game would be 7-5.

With two more games still to play this weekend, the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres will come back tomorrow, here at Oracle Park, for game two. First pitch will be at 1:05 p.m. with the game being broadcast on NBCS BA. San Diego will send RHP Michael King (10-9, 3.00 ERA) to hopefully keep the wins coming for them on their seven game road trip. The Giants will bring out LHP Cesar Perdomo (0-0, 0.90 ERA), who’s looking for his first win as a starter for San Francisco.