Late homers can't rescue Holland after slam

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gary Sanchez nonchalantly dropped his bat, knowing immediately that the ball he had just crushed was gone. Left-hander Derek Holland knew it, too.

Sanchez’s 467-foot grand slam -- the first of his career -- capped a five-run fifth inning for the Yankees and stood as the decisive blow in the Giants’ 6-4 loss on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park.

Manager Bruce Bochy claimed responsibility for the result afterward, confessing that he probably stuck with Holland for too long. Bochy had right-hander Trevor Gott warming during the fifth inning, but he decided to leave Holland in and give him a chance to face the Yankees’ right-handed-heavy lineup a third time through the order. The move backfired.

“I took this one,” Bochy said. “I own it. I tried to get him through the inning. That’s my fault. I had Gott up, but I felt like [Holland] still had the stuff and was making good pitches against those guys. He made a mistake there.”

Holland looked sharp over the first four innings, limiting the Yankees to an RBI single by DJ LeMahieu that deflected off third baseman Evan Longoria’s glove and allowed Cameron Maybin to score from second. But things started to unravel for Holland in the fifth after he yielded back-to-back singles to Maybin and Thairo Estrada and walked LeMahieu to load the bases for Luke Voit with one out.

Holland got ahead in the count, 1-2, but then clipped Voit on the right knee with a slider to force in a second run. Bochy considered bringing in Gott to face Sanchez, but he opted to leave Holland in. Sanchez also fell behind, 1-2, before crushing a sinker more than halfway up the left-field bleachers for a grand slam that made it 6-0.

While Holland said he didn’t regret the pitch selection, he acknowledged that he got too fastball-happy inside and made himself a bit too predictable for the Yankees’ hitters.

“Obviously, the pitch to Sanchez, I looked at the video, it was in a good spot,” Holland said. “He was obviously waiting for it. It’s kind of easy to just look one side of the plate if that’s where you’re at. So that’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job of executing more away.”

Holland said he appreciated Bochy’s confidence in him and lamented that he couldn’t reward his manager’s faith by finding a way to navigate through the jam.

“Obviously, you love that, but when you get that opportunity, you want to continue to show that you can handle that and you belong out there,” Holland said. “One pitch takes you out of the game. That’s something I was always told by a pitching coach. You’re one pitch from greatness and one pitch from humility. This is just one of those times that it was humility.”

The Giants were shut out through the first eight innings before Yangervis Solarte slugged a three-run home run to right field off Luis Cessa to cut the Yankees’ lead to 6-3 in the ninth. It was Solarte’s first home run of the season and his first with the Giants. Pinch-hitter Erik Kratz followed with a solo shot of his own, bringing the Giants within two and forcing the Yankees to bring in closer Aroldis Chapman.

But the Giants’ last-ditch rally fell short, as Chapman subsequently struck out Pablo Sandoval to end the game.

“It just sucks that one pitch took away the whole game,” Holland said. “Those guys fought back for me. That’s where I’m upset the most. Those guys fought back and put up the runs. You take away that grand slam, it’s a probably a different ballgame, for sure.”