NEW YORK -- The Giants have mostly stuck with the same lineup as part of their emphasis on roster continuity this season, but they made one notable change on Friday.
With LaMonte Wade Jr. off to a slow start, manager Bob Melvin decided to slot the hot-hitting Mike Yastrzemski into the leadoff spot and drop Wade down to the six-hole against Yankees right-hander Marcus Stroman.
¡°We try to stay consistent,¡± Melvin said. ¡°We¡¯ve obviously won some games and have a good flow to our lineup. LaMonte is struggling just a little bit for him, and Yaz is swinging good. When you have someone as hot as him, you want to try to get him up there. He¡¯s led off before, so he¡¯s used to it.¡±
Melvin described the shuffle as ¡°a minor tweak,¡± but the new look paid off after the Giants scored five runs in the first inning to roll to a 9-1 rain-shortened win in Friday night¡¯s series opener at Yankee Stadium.
The start of the game was delayed by 26 minutes due to inclement weather, but the frigid temperatures (44 degrees at first pitch) and drizzly conditions did little to cool Yastrzemski¡¯s bat. The Giants¡¯ right fielder lined Stroman¡¯s first pitch of the game -- an 89.4 mph sinker -- to right field for a leadoff double, becoming the first of six straight batters to reach base in the top of the first.
Willy Adames followed with a walk to put a pair of runners on for Jung Hoo Lee, who then put the Giants on the board after driving another misplaced sinker from Stroman out to right-center field to collect a three-run homer in his first career at-bat at Yankee Stadium. Lee¡¯s first home run of the year came off his bat at 100.5 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected 387 feet, helping to boost his batting average to .340 with a 1.000 OPS over 12 games this year.
¡°That¡¯s pretty cool,¡± Melvin said of Lee¡¯s Bronx debut. ¡°That wasn¡¯t lost on me, either. You come into this place and you¡¯ve heard about it. Obviously, he¡¯d never played in it before, and he hits a home run in difficult conditions after we have two guys on right away. It certainly gives us a lift in the first.¡±
Lee¡¯s big hit was even more impressive considering he rarely had to play in wet conditions in his native South Korea, especially since his former club, the Kiwoom Heroes of the KBO, plays its home games at the Gocheok Sky Dome.
¡°In the KBO, if this would have happened, the game wouldn¡¯t have even started,¡± Lee said via interpreter Justin Han. ¡°There are a lot of rainouts in the KBO.¡±
Matt Chapman and Heliot Ramos kept the line moving by drawing back-to-back walks to bring up Wade, who entered Friday batting only .105 with a .436 OPS over his first 12 games. Still, Wade took a step toward breaking out of the early slump by delivering a two-run double to right field, extending the Giants¡¯ lead to 5-0 before Stroman could record a single out.
Stroman drew mock cheers from the home crowd after he struck out Wilmer Flores for the first out and then coaxed a flyout from Patrick Bailey, but he couldn¡¯t get out of the inning after surrendering a two-out single to Tyler Fitzgerald on his 46th and final pitch of the night. The Giants ended up sending 10 batters to the plate in their biggest first-inning rally since they dropped a five-spot against the Mets on May 25, 2022.
The early run support proved to be enough for left-hander Robbie Ray, who was credited with the win after allowing only a second-inning RBI double to Austin Wells over four innings.
¡°You just kind of have to buckle down and prepare as best as you can,¡± said Ray, who struck out seven and walked four while throwing 98 pitches (56 strikes). ¡°I felt like the weather itself wasn¡¯t that bad, but then the field conditions started to turn a little bit after the second, third inning. I was able to keep the team in it. Big win.¡±
San Francisco broke the game open with a three-run rally in the fifth and then was threatening again when play was halted in the sixth. The Giants opened the sixth with three consecutive walks off an erratic Yoendrys G¨®mez, prompting the Yankee Stadium grounds crew to come out and pour fresh dirt on the mound. G¨®mez subsequently struck out Chapman and Ramos, but he couldn¡¯t escape damage after issuing another two-out walk to Wade that forced in a run.
With heavier rain coming down, the umpires decided to suspend play and bring out the tarp. The game was declared over 30 minutes later, leaving the Giants at 10-3 as they began a daunting stretch of 17 games in 17 days.
¡°Obviously, the conditions were tough,¡± Melvin said. ¡°It seemed like the game was never going to end. But we did some really good things offensively.¡±