The San Francisco Giants said they cleared the air with Rafael Devers after the designated hitter protested manager Tony Vitello's ninth-inning decision to replace him with pinch-runner Jonah Cox in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Miami Marlins.
MLB.com reported that Devers drew a leadoff walk with the Giants trailing by one in the top of the ninth. Cox came out as a pinch-runner, but Devers initially tried to wave him away before leaving first base.
Vitello Explains The Ninth-Inning Switch
Vitello framed the move as a run-prevention equation in reverse: get the fastest available runner on base and try to turn a narrow deficit into a tie. MLB.com quoted him saying the choice was about putting the Giants' best effort toward winning the game.
The manager also pointed to Cox's speed and the possibility of scoring on an extra-base hit. MLB.com reported that Cox ranks in the 89th percentile in Statcast sprint speed at 28.8 feet per second, while Devers is in the 22nd percentile at 26.2 feet per second.
That gap explains the baseball logic, even if it did not change the result. Cox did not attempt a steal, Jung Hoo Lee flew out, and Willy Adames grounded into a game-ending double play as Miami finished the 2-1 win.
Giants Keep Devers Dispute In-House
The next part was more important than the substitution itself. MLB.com reported that the Giants had a clubhouse conversation with Devers after the game and that Vitello said the situation was discussed clearly before the club moved forward.
Vitello also said Devers had been dealing with leg soreness earlier in the weekend but was signaling that he was good to run. That detail turns the episode from a simple benching argument into a late-game communication issue between a manager trying to gain speed and a veteran hitter who believed he could stay in.
Devers did not become the tying run because of any new injury announcement, and the article should not imply one. The source-backed point is narrower: San Francisco made a tactical choice, Devers objected in the moment, and the Giants addressed it after another close loss.
For a club trying to stop a slide, those margins are not cosmetic. The Giants lost a one-run game after putting the leadoff man on in the ninth, and their manager had to spend part of the postgame explaining both the math and the message.