Old teammates meet again as Giants visit White Sox

Former Boston Red Sox teammates meet again when Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi go head-to-head for the second straight night as the San Francisco Giants continue their road series against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon.

Devers and Benintendi contributed one hit apiece to rather meager offensive performances by their respective teams in the series opener Friday, a game won 3-1 by the Giants.

Actually, Benintendi's 1-for-3 raised his season average to .237 on a team that was held to one or fewer runs for the 23rd time this year by five Giants pitchers.

The club's current 26-56 record following 101- and 121-loss campaigns isn't what Benintendi had in mind when he signed the biggest contract in White Sox history -- a five-year, $75 million deal -- in January 2023.

"When I signed here, (we had) some big names, and then it seemed like at the (trade) deadline that year, they got rid of everybody," Benintendi lamented. "Obviously we are in a rebuild, so when that happens, it kind of stinks because I want to be a part of a winning team.

"Last year, going through the 121 losses, I think everybody had a terrible time. You try to have fun, but in the end it kind of [stinks] losing that many games. This year, there seems like there have been signs of improvement as far as talent coming in here and young guys kind of got their feet wet last year, learning more and becoming better. Hopefully the future is going to be better."

Having broken in with the Red Sox in 2016, Benintendi played four seasons in Boston with Devers. They were both members of the 2018 championship team, then combined for 45 homers and 183 RBIs in 2019.

But the Red Sox have made the playoffs just once since their pennant-raising campaign, and changes have resulted. First, Benintendi was dealt to the Kansas City Royals in 2021, and now Devers has gone to San Francisco.

The Giants are in a lot better shape than the White Sox, although Devers' addition has been slow to pay dividends. He has two homers in 10 games, but the Giants have lost six of the 10, held to three or fewer runs six times.

Devers went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position on Friday and the Giants were just 2-for-9 as a team, leaving manager Bob Melvin with a sour taste despite a win to open a 10-game road trip.

"We know we're on a long road trip right now. We'd like to do a little better offensively," Melvin said. "We had some chances to really break (Friday's game) open and we didn't do it again. That part is frustrating."

Facing the Giants on Saturday will be White Sox right-hander Adrian Houser (2-2, 2.27 ERA). The 32-year-old, who joined Chicago last month after being released by the Texas Rangers organization, has made only one previous start against the Giants, against whom he's gone 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in three lifetime head-to-heads (one start).

Meanwhile, Benintendi will be seeking his first career hit against Giants left-hander Robbie Ray (8-2, 2.83).

Ray will be making just his fifth career start against the White Sox, having gone 1-1 with a 3.08 ERA in the first four.

- Field Level Media