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By Ben Watanabe
Contributing Sports Writer
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It's safe to say this has been a season the San Francisco Giants would like to forget. Even when things go right, they still get weird.
Rafael Devers gave his team reason to celebrate Friday with a 10th-inning walk-off hit against the Los Angeles Angels, exorcising some demons to snap a five-game losing streak that included being on the wrong side of two walk-offs themselves. Devers' ground-rule double to left field over a pulled-in outfield in a tie game plated Jesus Rodriguez and Luis Arraez for an 8-6 win -- or so some thought.
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Once the lights were done flashing and the music had stopped, it was correctly ruled that although Devers' hit bounced over the wall -- normally a double -- the game ended as soon as Rodriguez touched home plate because San Francisco only needed one run to win. Therefore Arraez's run didn't count, Devers' hit was a single, and the Giants still won 7-6.
No harm, right? That depends.
The Giants were 1.5-point favorites, according to DraftKings Sportsbook, so bettors who were giving points probably weren't very happy with the result. Nor were any bettors who might have had Devers, who also homered earlier in the game, for multiple extra-base hits.
Instead, Devers was credited with the rare walk-off ground-rule single.
It's been that kind of year for the Giants. They entered Saturday 17 games below .500 in arguably the strongest division in baseball, with little hope of catching the Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks or San Diego Padres this season or in the future. Devers has played well, posting a 122 OPS+ with 21 home runs, but he's been overshadowed by his former team, the Boston Red Sox, thriving without him.
This was also the second straight game in which the Giants went viral for a rarely seen play. These Giants might be terrible, but they're definitely not boring.
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