Two teams that have struggled in close games would like nothing better than to be on the winning end of a one-sided affair Saturday afternoon when the Los Angeles Angels and the host San Francisco Giants continue their three-game interleague series.

Nine innings weren’t enough to determine a winner in the opener on Friday. The Giants emerged with a 7-6 win when Rafael Devers delivered a bases-loaded, walk-off single with one out in the bottom of the 10th.

The teams left the field with the scoreboard showing 8-6, the result of Devers’ long fly to left field having bounced over the fence. It initially was ruled a ground-rule double, with two runs scoring, even though only one was needed to end the game.

The Elias Sports Bureau, the official statisticians for Major League Baseball, reviewed the play shortly thereafter and the hit was changed to a single, producing one run. That made the official final score 7-6 and dropped Devers’ RBI total for the game from four to three.

The confusion was appropriate for teams that have struggled to record one-run wins this season. The Angels lead the majors with 19 one-run defeats, while the Giants have 16, tied with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres for second most in the National League.

Having watched his team fail far more than succeed in tight games, Giants manager Tony Vitello had an unusual reaction to watching his club blow a late 6-4 lead before recovering.

“It made for a better win to be honest with you — more exciting, more memorable for the guys,” he said. “A moment, hopefully, they can build confidence on, that we can come back if things don’t go perfect.”

Giants left-hander Robbie Ray (8-6, 3.33 ERA), who started a one-run loss against the Colorado Rockies in his most recent home outing, will take the mound on Saturday.

Ray is 3-1 with a 2.53 ERA in five career starts against the Angels, with the .750 winning percentage equaling his second best against any opponent. With a win on Saturday, Ray would match his mark against the Chicago Cubs, 4-1.

Ray got a no-decision on Sunday after yielding three runs (one earned) on seven hits in four-plus innings against the Seattle Mariners.

The Angels will send out rookie right-hander Ryan Johnson (2-4, 6.10 ERA) to oppose Ray, 34.

Johnson, 23, faced four batters in relief and retired them all in his only previous meeting with the Giants, on April 19, 2025. In his latest outing, Johnson threw five innings of one-run ball in a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

While many Angels might be wondering where they will be after the upcoming trade deadline, Johnson, one of the franchise’s top prospects, has only pondered how he can be most effective the rest of this season and moving forward.

“I don’t know if there’s any specific goals other than just keep competing and getting a feel for being in the rotation week to week,” Johnson said following his Sunday outing. “I feel like I’ve been able to get into a good routine and figure out what I want to do in between starts that makes me feel good.”

–Field Level Media

Playing decent baseball hasn’t been enough for the Miami Marlins.

They’ll need to dig deeper if they hope to avoid tying their franchise record for the longest losing streak.

Miami has lost 10 straight games heading into its matchup on Saturday afternoon against the visiting San Diego Padres.

The Marlins have lost 11 games in a row three times, most recently in 2011. All 10 losses in the current streak have been by three runs or less, including a 4-2 setback in the opener of the three-game series against San Diego on Friday night.

“It’s been a tough stretch,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said. “We’re not finding a way to get over the hump here in certain moments of the game. So I don’t have any doubt that they’ll come out here (Saturday) and be incredibly motivated to come out and try to win a game and get us going in a different direction.”

“Losses all sting,” McCullough added. “If half of these losses were by double digits, I think we’d feel just as horrible as we do now.”

The Marlins were the best team in the majors from June 1 to July 9, going 26-8 to move into a wild-card spot. Then the losing streak began with a 3-2 loss to the visiting Cleveland Guardians on July 10.

“You take some solace in the fact that, hey, there’s still a lot of good things going on,” McCullough said. “We’re giving ourselves opportunities within games. We just, right now, aren’t coming through in those moments, but trust that if you continue to give yourselves those opportunities in those moments, it’s going to flip.”

Miami will send 23-year-old right-hander Eury Perez to the mound in hopes of ending the skid. Perez (5-7, 3.53 ERA) has a 1.14 ERA over his past seven starts. He most recently allowed one hit over six shutout innings Sunday vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. He did not receive a decision, however, in a 3-1 loss.

Perez made his only MLB start against San Diego on July 21 of last season and took the loss after allowing two runs and five hits in five innings of a 2-1 defeat.

The Padres plan to counter with left-hander JP Sears, who’s also pitching well this month but has lost two consecutive starts. Sears (2-3, 4.38 ERA) wasn’t feeling well in his most recent outing Monday but limited the Atlanta Braves to one earned run and three hits over five innings in a 3-2 loss.

“Really efficient,” Sears said after the performance. “I was happy to get some quick outs.”

Sears has made two starts against the Marlins in his career, going 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA.

Luis Rengifo continues to look like a smart acquisition for the Padres. His pinch-hit, two-run homer in the eighth inning on Friday gave San Diego a 4-2 lead it maintained the rest of the way.

The Padres signed Rengifo to a minor-league contract on June 26 after he was released by the Milwaukee Brewers three days earlier. He is 10-for-21 in his past six games, with two homers and seven RBIs.

“The guys push me, and the support, that’s the most important (thing),” Rengifo said of his new teammates in San Diego.

–Field Level Media

American League East aces will battle when the host Boston Red Sox continue their three-game weekend set with the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon.

After late-inning magic led the Red Sox to a 6-4 win Friday in the opener, right-hander Sonny Gray (12-1, 2.48 ERA) will start for Boston after securing three victories during the team’s franchise-record-tying 15-game winning streak, which ended on Wednesday vs. the Baltimore Orioles.

“We are (enjoying the ride),” Boston second baseman Anthony Seigler said. “We’re obviously living in the moment, but now it’s onto the next. Turn the page quick and get ready for Saturday.”

It is easy to have that mentality when the momentum continues with Gray, who remains undefeated since April 14 entering a clash with Toronto right-hander Dylan Cease (6-5, 2.67 ERA).

Gray has nine consecutive quality starts, including a 6-1 win Sunday over the Tampa Bay Rays in which he struck out five batters across six innings of one-run ball.

In that start, Gray did not have his best stuff. He landed only 49 of his 91 pitches for strikes. Still, he found a way.

“Just as a pro does, he got through the outing and gave us six great innings,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “So it was a gutsy outing.”

Gray is 4-4 with a 2.99 ERA in 16 career appearances (15 starts) vs. the Blue Jays. This season, he pitched seven innings in a no-decision against them on June 18 as Boston lost 4-3.

Seigler became the latest in a long line of heroes during Boston’s hot stretch, recording his first career four-hit game on Friday. He cranked a leadoff home run before adding two doubles and a single, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.

Ceddanne Rafaela also went deep, and Romy Gonzalez’s pinch-hit RBI double in the eighth inning was the difference as the Red Sox overcame losing a 4-0 lead. Toronto broke the shutout bid on Kazuma Okamoto’s three-run homer in the seventh before knotting the score in the eighth.

It was a close call, but with Tyler Rogers unavailable out of the bullpen after pitching in the previous two games, the Blue Jays faltered late and now have lost five of their past six games to return to 10 games below .500.

In a radio interview before Friday’s game, Blue Jays manager John Schneider addressed being in that position as a reigning pennant winner.

“Coming off the year we had, it makes everything that much louder this year. We’ve earned those expectations, and fans expect them to be met,” he said. “You learn to shrug off the noise. I know that people who are taking shots at me … can’t do what I do, and they can’t do what my players can do.”

Despite the loss Friday, it was a historic night for Okamoto. With his 23rd homer of the season, he passed Shohei Ohtani for the most home runs by a Japanese-born rookie in MLB history.

Cease, meanwhile, had pitched back-to-back scoreless starts before suffering a 7-1 loss Monday to the Tampa Bay Rays, allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits and striking out seven over six innings. The AL All-Star Game starter surrendered his first two home runs since May in that outing.

“It’s on us. It’s not the coaches. It’s not anybody else,” Cease said after that game. “We’re just not playing up to our potential right now.”

Saturday will mark Cease’s ninth career start against the Red Sox — he has gone 2-2 with a 5.31 ERA — including his third in 2026. He pitched five shutout innings in a 6-1 victory June 16 at Fenway Park, where he has a 1.25 ERA in four career games.

–Field Level Media