The Giants lost to the Marlins on Sunday, but it was the reaction by one of his players that made headlines.

Things have not gone well in San Francisco in year one for Tony Vitello. The former Tennessee Vols head coach has not been immune from some growing pains as the Giants have slumped to fourth in the NL West at 31-46.

Naturally, as Vitello was already an eyebrow-raising hire for some, barbs are quick to fly when an outside-of-the-box hire doesn’t deliver quickly, and the ex-Vols coach is no exception. The grumblings from fans has risen to the surface on social media, and the criticism won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

But in a viral moment that took place Sunday afternoon in Miami, Vitello was nowhere in the wrong.

In the top of the ninth, with the Giants down 2-1, Rafael Devers earned a leadoff walk. Vitello called for pinch runner Jonah Cox to replace Devers. The latter waved off Cox and initially refused to leave. Afterwards, he was visibly frustrated. Miami went on to win 2-1.

After the game, Vitello addressed his thinking and Devers’ reaction.

Tony Vitello addressed pinch running for Rafael Devers

“He signaled over to us that he’s good to run,” Vitello said. “We DH’d him the first game after the day off just because from running, from baserunning, a little bit of soreness in his leg, but he’s good to go. So, a part of that, and a part of it, too, you know how competitive he is. He wants to stay in the game.

“Yeah, I didn’t see where he went afterwards, but once we announce the move, the move is made, so just going with what our best effort is to win the game. Obviously, you’d like to get Jonah to go get a bag. He’s relatively quick to the plate. But on a double, going with our best chance to be able to score.

“No, we’re good. We talk every day. I’d rather have guys like Webbie (Logan Webb), you’ve got to rip them off the field as opposed to vice versa.”

The decision was clearly the right one, and despite the Giants’ issues, Vitello doesn’t deserve any blame here

I can’t believe this needs to be said, but Vitello was 100% in the right here with the decision. Let’s make that clear. Getting a faster running on base who can swipe a bag as the tying run was the obvious play there in the ninth.

And not much should be read into the reaction of Devers towards Vitello. It’s no different that what we see from a number of star players across the league who are unhappy with their managers/coaches in a given situation. It’s not uncommon, and players move on to the next game.

Vitello has done plenty wrong in his rookie season in the bigs. But to be clear, he did nothing wrong here. And that benefit of the doubt should be afforded to him in this spot.

This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: Tony Vitello made the right call in viral moment in Giants' loss, and he deserves the benefit of the doubt

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