Rafael Devers’ 30th home run of the season will not go down as just another stat in the box score. It was the spark for a chain reaction of chaos that saw three ejections, a defensive overhaul, and a bizarre pause in the middle of what should have been a simple trot around the bases.
It all started in the first inning when Devers unloaded on a sweeper from Colorado’s Kyle Freeland, sending it flying over the right-field wall. The home run was a no-doubt shot that usually ends with a crowd roar and a casual jog around the bases, but not this time. Freeland apparently didn’t care for the way Devers celebrated, and he let him know about it as Devers was nearing first base.
That’s when the game took a hard left turn. Players from both sides charged toward the infield. The benches and bullpens emptied. San Francisco’s Matt Chapman and Milwaukee shortstop Willy Adames were suddenly in the middle of it all, with Chapman appearing to make contact with Freeland as tempers flared. The whole thing looked ready to spiral out of control, but the umpires managed to separate everyone before any punches were thrown.
Then Came the Fallout From the Umpires
Freeland, Chapman, and Adames all got tossed. Devers, meanwhile, just stood at first base, waiting. Minutes ticked by as the umpires huddled, and only after the dust had settled was Devers allowed to complete what might be the slowest home run trot of the year.
The Giants were left scrambling to patch together an infield after the ejections. Devers, of all people, slid back over to third base — a position he hadn’t played since his trade from Boston in June. Christian Koss moved to shortstop, Casey Schmitt slotted in at second, and Dominic Smith entered at first. Colorado also had to make a change, bringing in Antonio Senzatela to take over on the mound.
Devers’ homer did snap a drought, and he’s now the first Giants player to hit 30 in a season since Barry Bonds in 2004. Half of those longballs came in a Red Sox uniform before the midseason trade. Still, the milestone stands, even if the celebration was taken over by one of the strangest sequences of the season.
What should have been a clean, history-making swing turned into a spectacle of delays, arguments, and ejections — the kind of scene only baseball can deliver when tempers meet tradition in the middle of a ballgame.
