New York @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( May 26, 2024 ) San Francisco 3, NY Mets 4
Rafael Devers and Juan Soto get an opportunity to reintroduce themselves to familiar foes for their new teams when the New York Mets open a three-game road series against the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
While the Giants haven't, Devers has seen the Mets this season, although he did so while still with the Boston Red Sox in May. He had just two hits in the three-game set, one being a solo home run off the pitcher he will battle again in the opener: Clay Holmes.
The Mets pitched him carefully in the low-scoring series, walking him four times in his 12 plate appearances.
Holmes (8-5, 3.48 ERA) has walked Devers twice (once intentionally) and surrendered two hits -- the other a single -- in nine lifetime head-to-heads.
Holmes, who pitched to a 2.93 ERA in five June starts, has struggled in July, going 0-1 with a 5.66 ERA in four outings. While some have suggested the former reliever, who has already thrown 38 2/3 more innings than in any previous season, might have hit a wall, the 32-year-old sees a path to improvement.
"There has been a lot of growth," Holmes insisted to reporters last week. "I have got enough of a sample size now where you can really make some good assessments of what really I have been good at and what's kind of been hindering me a little bit.
"As long as I get ground balls and really not beating myself, I kind of like where I'm at and where things are going."
The right-hander has faced the Giants nine times in his career but only once as a starter. In total, Holmes has gone 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and one save in those nine contests.
Holmes will be opposed by Giants ace Logan Webb (9-7, 3.08 ERA), who, like his Mets counterpart, will be looking to turn around his worst month of the season. The All-Star is 2-1 in three July starts but has put up a 6.00 ERA while serving up 24 hits in 18 innings.
The right-hander has dominated the Mets over the years, going 3-1 with a 2.13 ERA in six starts with 35 strikeouts in 38 innings. He threw eight shutout innings in a 5-1 home win over New York last April.
Webb has dealt plenty with Soto over the years, retiring the former San Diego Padre in 12 of their first 13 meetings (the other being a walk) before Soto has rebounded with three hits and a sacrifice fly in their four most recent duels, most recently when Soto was with the New York Yankees in June 2024.
Devers enters the series in better form than Soto. The loudly trumpeted acquisition began his Giants career going just 20-for-97 (.206) with 36 strikeouts in his first 27 games before getting a total of eight hits in his last four contests.
Among those hits were two homers in Wednesday's 9-3 win in Atlanta, after which Devers insisted his recent upswing coinciding with his return to the field as a first baseman on Tuesday is not coincidental.
"It keeps me active. It keeps my head out of just thinking about the next at-bat," he explained to reporters in Atlanta. "I'm the kind of player that likes to be active, likes to be on the field. I'd rather be on the field than be in the cage hitting all the time and just thinking about the next at-bat."
Soto had four homers in his first 13 games in July, but he has gone just 1-for-16 since to drop his season batting average to .253.
--Field Level Media