San Francisco Giants Rafeal Devers slugs his 35th home run in the top of the first inning against the New York Mets at Citi Park in New York on Sat Sep 5, 2026 (AP News photo)
By Jessica Kwong
NEW YORK. — The San Francisco Giants bounced back from a game one loss to the New York Mets with a 9-5 victory on Saturday to tie the three-game series at Citi Field.
San Francisco’s offense was fueled by Rafael Devers and Christian Koss, who notched two home runs each of the team’s six total. It was the perfect comeback from Friday night’s 10-6 loss. The Giants had “a good game plan” in the hitters’ meeting, along with “great” vibes and “some fun” on the field, according to manager Tony Vitello.
“They were kind of determined to kind of pick up where we left off last night,” said Vitello. “Didn’t get a win, but I do think we forced them to use their closer and we had some momentum going out towards the end of the game and it carried over to today.”
In the first inning, Devers hit a home run on a line drive to right field, putting the Giants up 1-0.
A.J. Ewing in the second inning hit a homer on a fly ball to right center field and Marcus Semien scored, giving the Mets a 2-1 lead.
In the third inning, Christian Koss hit a homer on a fly ball to left center field and Grant McGray scored, and San Francisco was back on top 3-2. Koss hit another home run in the fifth on a fly ball to left field. It was Koss’ first two-homer game in the big leagues.
Asked what it meant for him to accomplish that against the Mets, Koss said: “I mean I’d be happy to do it again to anyone, you know. I think the game plan is, hit the ball hard and hope good things happen. You get two of them and try to help the team out.”
Also in the fifth inning, Devers homered on a fly ball to left field and Jonah Cox scored, boosting the Giants to 6-2. Despite a spectacular stretch over more than a dozen games, Devers said he hasn’t been paying attention to his numbers and simply shows up to work every single day.
“Nothing in particular,” Devers said in Spanish. “I’ve been doing the same thing. Like I have said before, we have good times, bad times, but we’re over here to improve ourselves.”
In the seventh inning, Brett Baty walked and Jared Young scored, cutting San Francisco’s lead to 6-3.
Osleivis Basabe in the eighth hit a home run on a line drive to left center field and Bryce Eldridge scored, putting the Giants up 8-3.
McCray hit a homer on a fly ball to center field in the ninth inning, giving the Giants a 9-3 lead. The Mets attempted to rally. The umpire reviewed a home run and the call on the field was upheld: Baty doubled on a fly ball to left field, and Young and Ewing scored, putting the Mets within four runs, but not enough to overcome the Giants.
Giants starting pitcher Anthony Molina allowed two unearned runs on only one hit over five innings. He matched his career high in innings pitched for the second consecutive outing and for the third time in his career.
“I was very happy with my outing,” said Molina in Spanish. “I got ready for it, I was very prepared for it and obviously the catcher helped me through the whole process and everything turned out great.”
For the final game of the series at Citi Field on Sunday, the Giants (59-84) have not yet announced their starting pitcher to face Mets (64-78) right-handed pitcher Christian Scott (4-4, 3.80 ERA). First pitch is at 10:40 a.m. PT.
