Giants’ Mike Yastrzemski explains altercation with Cardinals pitcher
Mike Yastrzemski made it clear that he was not stealing the signs Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner relayed to pitcher Johan Oviedo during Wednesday night’s game.
But Yastrzemski wanted Oviedo to think he had the signs picked.
“I had nothing,” Yastrzemski admitted after the Giants’ 5-2 win. “They changed their signs four or five times. I had zero clue what was coming. Even when I thought I could have possibly known what was coming, it was honestly the opposite pitch. I was just trying to keep the game going.”
After Yastrzemski belted a double off the center field wall to push the Giants ahead 2-1, he danced off second base while Oviedo battled against Giants second baseman Wilmer Flores. The double marked Yastrzemski’s second time on base Wednesday as he also walked in the first inning.
What Yastrzemski picked up the first time he reached against the Cardinals rookie influenced his decision to try to get in Oviedo’s head.
“I knew that they had changed signs at least three times while I was on second base,” Yastrzemski said. “I figured they thought I was doing it then, so I’m just going to keep rolling with it,” adding that it was “an opportunity to try and get the focus on you instead of the hitter.”
Yastrzemski said he wanted to move around at second base and stay at the front of Oviedo’s mind in hopes he would make a mistake to Flores. Flores ultimately flew out to end the inning, but not before Oviedo stepped off the rubber, walked off the mound and confronted Yastrzemski with an expletive.
Even with his faux sign-stealing antics, Yastrzemski said he was caught by surprise when the Cardinals right-hander yelled in his direction.
“I didn’t want to get it to that extent,” Yastrzemski said. “I just wanted him to throw a fastball down the middle so Flo could hit a homer. But that’s where it got so it’s obviously a misunderstanding on both sides, so it’s no harm, no foul.”
Oviedo appeared heated in the moment, but seemed to agree that in the end, neither side thought the interaction was a big deal.
“At that moment, the way he was taking my pitches, I was like, ‘OK, he’s got to have (the pitches),’ ” Oviedo told Cardinals reporters during a postgame press conference. “That was what I thought and I got upset.”
As for Yastrzemski, the fact Oviedo paid more attention to him than Flores meant he did his job.
“You’ve just got to sell it sometimes. We’re in the entertainment business. We’ve got to work on the field skills,” he said. “It’s like we’re center stage at times, so hopefully the focus was on me instead of on Flo. It’s just another way to impact the game from the basepaths.”
Yastrzemski hasn’t made a habit out of engaging opponents on the field during his Giants tenure, but with his club searching for an edge on Wednesday, he showed his ability to impact the outcome of a game extends beyond what he can do with his bat and glove.
“It’s a mental game out there and a little bit of cat-and-mouse that we all play from time to time,” Yastrzemski said.