KANSAS CITY -- It wasn¡¯t easy, but Camilo Doval found a way to get the job done.

Brought on for his first save opportunity since he was demoted from the closing role last month, Doval managed to overcome command issues and a controversial rules check to lock down the Giants¡¯ 2-1 win over the Royals in Friday night¡¯s series opener at Kauffman Stadium.

¡°A little stressful, but he got out of it,¡± manager Bob Melvin said.

Doval earned his first career All-Star nod after recording a National League-high 39 saves for the Giants last year, but he took a step back in 2024, ceding ninth-inning duties to Ryan Walker after logging a 4.70 ERA over his first 46 appearances of the season.

The Giants made the surprising decision to send him to Triple-A Sacramento in early August to try to get him back on track, but Doval continued to struggle when he returned, posting a 7.20 ERA over his next seven Major League outings. Still, the hard-throwing right-hander found himself back in the ninth against the Royals, as the Giants wanted to stay away from Walker, who was coming off back-to-back appearances in Baltimore.

¡°For me, it¡¯s the same as any other inning,¡± Doval said in Spanish. ¡°When they hand me the ball, I¡¯m going to try to help the team and give my 100%.¡±

Doval took the mound with a 2-0 lead, but his foray back into closing got off to a shaky start. He opened the bottom of the ninth with eight straight balls, drawing a mound visit from pitching coaches Bryan Price and J.P. Martinez and forcing the Giants to start getting Tristan Beck loose in the bullpen.

Doval came back to strike out Adam Frazier on a slider, but he found himself with his back against the wall after shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald botched a potential game-ending double-play ball from Maikel Garcia, loading the bases with one out. That brought up Garrett Hampson, who lined a 2-2 pitch from Doval down the left-field line that led to an unusual delay on the field.

Third-base umpire John Bacon correctly called the ball foul, but the officials decided to hold a crew chief review to check the rules and confirm that the play was non-reviewable since the ball landed in front -- not behind -- Bacon.

Hampson eventually lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to cut the Giants¡¯ lead to 2-1 once play resumed, but Doval locked in after that, striking out Tommy Pham on a slider to end the game and convert his 23rd save of the year -- and first since Aug. 7.

¡°My fastball was moving a lot today,¡± Doval said. ¡°I was trying to throw it middle-middle, but it seemed like the ball was doing whatever it wanted. During that break, I was able to make the adjustments.¡±

Doval¡¯s rollercoaster ninth ultimately resulted in a big milestone for rookie Mason Black, who picked up his first win in the big leagues after firing 5 2/3 scoreless innings in the best and longest start of his young career. Black entered Friday 0-4 with a 7.07 ERA over his first seven appearances (six starts), but he finally got into the win column by holding the Royals to four hits while walking one and striking out four.

¡°It¡¯s definitely a big relief, just to get it out of the way and not have it kind of looming over a little bit there,¡± Black said.

Black displayed an uptick in velocity on each of his four pitches, with his heater topping out at 95.3 mph, the fastest pitch he¡¯s thrown all season. The 24-year-old right-hander relied primarily on his sweeper in his first stint in the big leagues in May, but he¡¯s gone with a more fastball-heavy pitch mix since being recalled to fill in for the injured Robbie Ray last month. He threw his sinker and four-seam fastball a combined 65% of the time against the Royals, using the offerings to generate seven of his nine swinging strikes.

¡°He had a good sinker,¡± Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. ¡°He was throwing that sinker on the outside corner and he was locating it. Kept us off balance with it. I think his stuff was -- he mixed it enough, sometimes he missed his spots, but that worked to his advantage. But he was really able to locate the fastball.¡±

Heliot Ramos backed Black¡¯s strong effort by going 3-for-4 with an RBI and falling a homer shy of a cycle. Ramos put the Giants on the board with an RBI single off Michael Wacha in the top of the first inning, tripled in the fourth and then doubled and scored on Patrick Bailey¡¯s RBI single in the sixth.

The All-Star outfielder came close to recording his fourth hit of the night in the eighth, but he was robbed by Frazier, who laid out to make a diving catch on his sinking liner to right field.

¡°That was a great play,¡± Ramos said. ¡°The umpire kind of covered me when he was diving, so I just sprinted from home plate. If he dropped it, I was going home. I told [third-base coach] Matt [Williams], ¡®You better send me.¡¯¡±