Powerful first impression
Korean star Hwang’s go-ahead homer in MLB debut seals series sweep
SAN FRANCISCO >> Jae-gyun Hwang understands the finer points of cultural diplomacy. He also understands how to impact a baseball.
He displayed both skills almost simultaneously Wednesday afternoon in a major league debut that neither he nor the Giants will soon forget. Hwang crushed a home run for his first big league hit, and as he had pledged, he refrained from the ostentatious bat flip that made him a fan favorite during a career in Korea that included six All-Star appearances.
Instead, he held a high pose and dropped his bat like a mic.
Hwang combined style with substance. His shot in the sixth inning snapped a tie, and a depleted Giants bullpen that is again missing Mark Melancon to the disabled list hung on for a 5-3 victory to finish off a three-game sweep over the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park.
The Giants have won three consecutive games for the first time since May 12-16. They also finally won a series in June, which some-
how proved even more cruel and unusual than their struggles in April and May. They hadn’t swept a series all season.
Afterwards, the players gave Hwang a different sort of cultural experience: his first beer shower.
“There is not such a thing in Korea,” said Hwang, through interpreter Mark Kim. “But I have gotten to know that there is such a thing, just a few moments ago. I was actually more surprised by how cold the beer was.”
It was a particularly raucous version, judging by the muffled screams and shouts that traveled through the clubhouse walls and into Bruce Bochy’s interview room.
“They were so excited for him and happy,” Bochy said. “He’s given up baseball in Korea to be here. He reaches his dream, playing here, and not only that but he hits a huge home run. These are moments you love. You have tough times in this game, but you have special moments like these you try to savor.
“He’s very popular in that clubhouse. That’s why you heard what you heard. He’s going to have a nice flight to Pittsburgh, trust me.”
Hwang traveled from El Paso on Tuesday and said he walked into the ballpark at almost the exact instance that Denard Span hit the single that sent the Giants to a 14-inning victory.
He continued to bring good vibes while fulfilling his childhood dream — one that he turned down more lucrative contract offers from the Lotte Giants in Korea to pursue.
“The only thing I imagined was setting my feet on the field and in the grass at AT&T Park,” Hwang said. “I never even dreamed of hitting a home run here.”
Hwang grounded out in each of his first two at-bats but drove in a run. The Giants took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when Nick Hundley hit a two-run homer off the ambulance parked beyond the left field corner.
But the Rockies tied it in the sixth when Ty Blach’s throwing error after fielding a bunt allowed Pat Valaika to advance all the way to third base. Mike Tauchmann’s first big league hit sent Valaika to the plate.
Hwang batted with two out in the sixth, and he turned on a 2-0 pitch from left-hander Kyle Freeland. The sound alone made it a no-doubt home run. Hwang watched it and held his bat aloft with his left hand, then let it drop as he started his trot.
“I don’t even know what I was thinking at the time,” Hwang said. “It just happened. Even right now, I can’t remember what I was thinking at that moment.”
There was no subtlety when he returned to a raucous Giants dugout. After emerging from the human tunnel of helmet slaps, he leaned against the rail between coach Bill Hayes and Buster Posey, with a foggy smile on his face.
He became the Giants’ 17th player to hit a home run for his first hit in his first big league game. It could not have come at a better time.
“They were all very excited and happy for me,” Hwang said, “and I could feel that by the way they were hitting me on the back of my helmet.”
The home run made a winner of Blach, a former minor league Gold Glove winner who made two uncharacteristic throwing errors that started scoring rallies for Colorado. The Rockies led 2-0 before Blach recorded his first out, but he made pitches in traffic to get through 6 1/3 innings.
The Giants added a run in the eighth when Gorkys Hernandez walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a fielder’s choice.
The Giants’ flagging bullpen was without Melancon, who is out till after the All-Star break at least because of a stubborn pronator strain in his elbow that required a plateletrich plasma injection. Sam Dyson, who is expected to be the interim closer, also was limited because he threw two shutout innings in Tuesday’s 14-inning victory.
But George Kontos got three outs in the seventh and eighth, Steven Okert retired two hitters in the eighth and two more in the ninth, and Hunter Strickland recorded the one-out save.