Wilmer Flores comes through in a pinch, wins the day for Giants

Sports

add

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants shook up the baseball world on Sunday when they acquired Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, and although pragmatism will never prevent the punditry from declaring instant winners and losers, the truth is it’ll take a year or five before anyone can conduct a full accounting of the deal.

But the second-order effects on both rosters following a blockbuster trade? The winners and losers in uniform? Those are a bit easier to analyze in real time. For Wilmer Flores, a broken-down player last season who opted into the last year of his contract, who might have come within one bad spring training from becoming a writeoff, who instead reestablished himself as a dangerous situational hitter and who entered the week with the fifth most RBIs among National League players, the Devers trade had a clear and immediate impact. It closed off Flores’ avenue to at-bats at designated hitter.

With Devers ensconced at DH and the No.3 spot in the lineup, Flores had to come off the bench in two of three games in the series against the Cleveland Guardians. That meant Flores was in the right place at the right time Thursday afternoon.

Flores threaded a pinch double down the third-base line that scored two runs in the seventh inning, flipping the result for the Giants and Logan Webb in a 2-1 victory that snapped a four-game losing streak.

Sometimes the apparent losers in a trade are actually winners. For all the ways the Devers acquisition could limit his opportunities, Flores remains a vital part of the Giants’ roster.

“We expect so much out of him,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We expect him to come through every time in those situations, and he does almost every time. But it’s really, really difficult. Sit on the bench the entire game. Have the biggest at-bat of the game. He gets behind in the count, doesn’t try to do too much, puts it in play with the infield in. It’s just what he does.”

Wilmer gives us the lead! 😤 pic.twitter.com/cGuOss8WLX

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 19, 2025

Melvin sent Flores to pinch hit for second baseman Christian Koss, even though the manager knew the Guardians would go to right-hander Nic Enright. Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt did not have a lefty warming up alongside him. It would’ve been easy for Melvin to send up Daniel Johnson and get a left-handed matchup. But platoon advantages only count for so much. Sometimes, a slow heartbeat and a steely resolve are even bigger advantages.

“It’s just Wilmer,” said Webb, who struck out nine and walked none but was on the hook for an unjust loss when he walked off the mound in the middle of the seventh. “He always seems to come up with the big one. He’s been doing it for so long. It’s always a pleasure. I actually (heard) a podcast, and they were talking about Wilmer. They were like, ‘Just put him on base.’ Any time you’re in a big situation, it’s just the way Wilmer goes. He’s always prepared, always ready for the big moment. Obviously, I love that he did that.”

It’s never an advantage for a hitter to get to a two-strike count. But the more pitches Flores fouls off in an at-bat, the more the sense of inevitability grows that something good is about to happen. And the Giants were desperate for it. When Flores stepped to the plate, the team was 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position on the day and 1 for 23 in the series against the Guardians. Extending back a bit further, the Giants had been 4 for 33 with runners in scoring position over their four-game losing streak — and one of the hits was Casey Schmitt’s grand slam on a 56-mph lob from position player Kiké Hernandez at Dodger Stadium.

Devers hit an RBI double in his Giants debut on Tuesday, but it’s not as if his presence lit the lineup on fire. The Giants scored just six runs in the three-game series against Cleveland, and they won’t project to be at full strength for at least a couple weeks while Matt Chapman rehabs his sprained right hand. It’s likely that many more games will hang in the balance of a pinch at-bat or two.

Giants pinch hitters entered the day with a decent record of production: 10 for 40 with two home runs and a .250 average that ranked well above the league average of .202. But they’ve also had more riding on those pinch at-bats than any team. Their 2.21 leverage index, which weighs the context in which a pinch hitter is used (with 1.0 representing average pressure), is the highest in the major leagues. So the second-level effects of having Flores on the bench are no small matter.

Melvin hopes that Devers will be playable at first base soon and that Flores will resume something resembling an everyday DH role. Until then, Melvin said he’s hesitant to put too many demands on Flores’ surgically repaired knee.

“I don’t want to run Flo out there too much in the field,” said Melvin, who started Flores at first base for the first time this season on Wednesday. “Until we get Rafi in the field, it’s going to be half-and-half (between Flores and Dom Smith at first base).

“But being able to come off the bench in those situations is really valuable.”

How long before Devers becomes playable at first base? Well, probably not as soon as this weekend, when his former team, the Red Sox, visits the shores of McCovey Cove. It was Devers’ refusal to plug a hole at first base in the wake of Triston Casas’ season-ending knee injury that irreparably harmed his relationship with the Red Sox and compelled them to trade him barely 24 months after signing him to a 10-year, $313.5 million contract.

As hilarious and amazing as it would be for Devers to start at first base against Boston, it almost certainly won’t happen. You can’t let the punditry have it that easy.

(Photo: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Why Peyton Manning is confident Arch’s patience at Texas will pay off in 2025

Adriano Boin - SAM English

Next

trending_flat

Arch Manning will ‘thrive’ in Steve Sarkisian’s Texas offense, according to his uncle Peyton Manning

Sports