Yastrzemski stuns Padres with walk-off
SAN FRANCISCO — A pair of San Diego Padres sluggers launched early home runs and a veteran San Francisco Giants starting pitcher struggled to give his lineup a chance.
It appeared the Padres and Giants were destined to follow the exact same script from Tuesday night’s home opener at Oracle Park, but third baseman Donovan Solano had other ideas. Mike Yastrzmeski did, too.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Solano — who goes by “Donnie Barrels” in the Giants’ clubhouse — crushed a game-tying three-run home run into the left field bleachers off Padres set-up man Craig Stammen.
In the bottom of the ninth, Yastrzemski stepped to the plate and pulled a fastball from Padres lefthander Mike Strahm into McCovey Cove, delivering the Giants a 7-6 walk-off win and Yastrzemski’s second home run of the night.
“He just looks like a great all-around player right now,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “It’s starting to seem like this is who Yaz is.”
After falling behind 6-2 in the early innings, the Giants secured a stunning victory to climb back to .500 and give themselves a chance to steal a series from San Diego on Thursday.
Solano’s home run was the 14th of his career, his first at Oracle Park and the first homer hit by a Giants player this season with runners on base.
Solano hit .330 in 81 games for the Giants last year and set a career-high with four home runs, but the 5-foot-8 infielder’s production was so unexpected that it hardly seemed repeatable. With Evan Longoria (right moderate oblique strain) likely to return from the injured list Thursday, Solano appeared destined to lose playing time and move into a more permanent part-time role.
After Wednesday’s effort, which included a RBI single to put the Giants on the board in the bottom of the second, Kapler may need to find more opportunities to keep his bat in a lineup that’s struggled to slug the ball against right-handed pitchers.
Solano’s home run helped 13th-year veteran
Johnny Cueto salvage a nodecision after a rough outing Wednesday in which Cueto failed to finish the fourth inning.
The Giants’ No. 1 starter battled command issues all night as he walked three and hit a batter, but it was a mistake inside the strike zone that haunted Cueto. Armed with an 0-2 edge in the count against Manny Machado, Cueto left a fastball up around the belt and right down the middle that San Diego’s third baseman launched over the new 10foot high wall in dead center field in the top of the third.
“I put the pitch where I wasn’t supposed to put it,” Cueto said. “I wanted the pitch to be high and I put it right in the middle.”
The two-out, two-strike,
two-run home run to Machado wasn’t the only mistake that left Cueto frustrated in the third as he was also steamed by walking center fielder Trent Grisham with the bases empty and two outs.
Cueto threw 87 pitches, 12 more than Jeff Samardzija on Tuesday, but failed to finish the fourth inning after Padres No. 9 hitter Edward Olivares yanked a go-ahead RBI single into left field to drive in Wil Myers.
“There were moments in that game where he showed us he still has his live fastball, he continues to control his body well, I just don’t think he had his command or control tonight,” Kapler said.
After logging four innings and allowing just one run on Opening Night against the Dodgers, Cueto lasted 3 2/3 innings and gave up four runs at Oracle Park against the Padres.