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Gilbert's two-run blast sparks the Fenway rally that almost stuck

Drew Gilbert went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer off Sonny Gray as the Giants fell 6-4 at Fenway in Rafael Devers' return.

Saratoga Newsroom

August 22, 20262 min read

Award-style baseball emblem illustration, no athletes
Award-style baseball emblem illustration, no athletes
MLBFinal
San Francisco Giants4
Boston Red Sox6

August 21, 2026

Drew Gilbert wrote the first half of San Francisco's fourth-inning answer at Fenway. Rafael Devers wrote the second. Boston still left with the win.

The Associated Press recap on ABC News said the Giants pulled within 5-4 in the fourth after Gilbert hit a two-run homer off Red Sox starter Sonny Gray, and Devers followed with a solo shot. CBS Sports' scoring play reads, "D. Gilbert homered to right, C. Koss scored," moving the line from 3-5 to a closer deficit before Devers homered to center.

The line behind the swing

CBS Sports' batting table lists Gilbert in center field at three at-bats with one run, two hits, and two RBI - a clean 2-for-3, two-RBI night. That same CBS board credits him with his seventh home run of the season in the game's HR summary ("SF - D. Gilbert (7), R. Devers (26)").

The AP noted he later left the game when a pinch-hitter struck out for him in the seventh.

The homer was a two-out RBI swing that scored Christian Koss, per the CBS play-by-play wording. It did not erase Boston's earlier five-run inning, but it was the loudest Giants contact until Devers went back-to-back.

What happened around him

Willson Contreras' three-run homer off Logan Webb highlighted Boston's five-run burst, the AP reported, and Webb took the loss (8-8). Gray improved to 16-3 with six innings and four runs allowed. Wilyer Abreu's RBI triple in the sixth pushed Boston back ahead by two, and Aroldis Chapman finished with his 28th save, per the AP.

The Giants totaled four runs and did not score again after the fourth in that account.

Saratoga's Player of the Day is Gilbert rather than Devers because the feature angle is the spark: the two-run homer that turned a five-run hole into a one-run game before the famous return homer arrived. Devers' Fenway chapter belongs on the Pleasanton site. Gilbert's chapter is the 2-for-3, two-RBI night that made that chapter possible.

A loss, still a clear choice

Final score: Red Sox 6, Giants 4 at Fenway Park on Friday, Aug. 21. The box does not award consolation prizes, but a Player of the Day file can still isolate the Giants bat that drove in two and collected two hits while the club was trying to climb out of an early deficit. Gilbert's seventh homer and 2-for-3 line are that file.

Every figure above is drawn from the cited box scores and wire recaps; nothing here is projected beyond Friday's final.

Sources

https://abcnews.com/Sports/wireStory/willson-contreras-hits-3-run-homer-red-sox-135857235

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/live/MLB_20260821_SF@BOS/

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Saratoga Newsroom

Reporting from Saratoga and the surrounding area.

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