Giants fall back to .500, lack of bullpen depth proves costly in loss to Rockies
Yastrzemski hits longest home run by a Giant since 2015
DENVER – As contenders around the league went searching for relief help ahead of Wednesday’s trade deadline, the Giants’ bullpen represented the treasure chest other clubs were trying to unlock.
No club sat as comfortably on a surplus of arms as the Giants, who owned the best bullpen ERA in the National League and what appeared to be an excess of capable veterans.
President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi understood his peers’ desire to poach from the Giants’ bullpen, and he ultimately obliged. Zaidi didn’t trade three of his top four relievers, but he parted with enough valuable arms to create lingering questions as to how the Giants might survive in the National League Wild Card chase.
Two days after the deadline, those questions are burning.
After suffering a blowout loss on Thursday and dropping Friday’s series opener to the Rockies 5-4, the Giants have lost consecutive games for the first time since June 26-27.
The defeat dropped the Giants (55-55) back to .500 and moved them to 3-4 on a pivotal nine-game road trip.
The Giants had the tying run at second base and the go-ahead run at first with two outs in the ninth, but left fielder Mike Yastrzemski bounced into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play to send the Giants to their first one-run defeat since they fell 5-4 in Milwaukee on July 13.
The loss might have been avoided if they had a full stable of pitchers at the ready, but they may never be as rich with relievers as they were in July.
Yastrzemski makes history According to Statcast, Yastrzemski’s booming 472-foot home run marked the farthest ball hit by a Giants player since Brandon Belt crushed a 475-foot home run at Coors Field on May 22, 2015.
“I have to hit a ball twice usually to get it that far,” Yastrzemski said.
The two-run shot off Rockies starter Peter Lambert also helped Yastrzemski, 28, become the oldest Giants rookie to hit 10 home runs in a season since Monte Irvin hit 15 as a 31-year-old rookie in 1950. Irvin played in the Negro Leagues from 1938-1942 and again from 1946-1948 before becoming the first black player signed by the New York Giants.