by
Greek Giant
“There’s a high drive to right! Is it fair? It Is!”
-Jon Miller
Up until last night’s game Mike Yastrzemski had to be having the most disappointing season of any Giant, Donovan Solano included. Last year’s team MVP has struggled mightily with a batting average around the 2 teens or 2 20s for most of the season with little spurts of pop here and there but nothing consistent. He has been injured twice and the Giants have missed his bat, until last night.
With the Giants trailing 7-0 ….write your own sentence here…. This was not a game that looked good after two innings that saw Zack Littel and Sam Long struggle. But in the bottom of the 8th with two outs and the bases load, Yaz hit what might be the homer of the season so far. It was a moon shot right down the right field line splashing in McCovey Cove and sending the fans, there were many, into a delirious frenzy.
The winning rally started off with a double by Brandon Belt, a single by Solano and a walk, a key walk, by Curt Casali. That left the heroics to Yaz who absolutely obliterated a knee high change up on the inside corner.
Splash Hit ✅
Grand Slam ✅
For the Lead ✅#ResilientSF pic.twitter.com/D6WrGu8TD5— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 16, 2021
Here’s Yaz (courtesy of mlb.com)
“I was really fired up that I kind of squared a ball up and stayed through one,” Yastrzemski said. “I’d been a little off lately. It was tough coming back from a couple of injuries and trying to get my timing back and seeing the ball right. At that point, I was almost so frustrated with myself that I just kind of let it all go and just trusted what I’d been training, what my abilities were. I finally stuck to my game plan at the plate instead of chasing or getting outside of myself.”
and a little bit of information on his pre-game work with the Giants batting coaches.
“We were working on my path all day and really trying to keep everything moving toward the middle of the field,” Yastrzemki said. “That was kind of the exact swing that we worked on there. I got a pitch that was middle-in and didn’t try to do too much with it. I didn’t try to yank it, just tried to stay through it and put a good swing on it.”
With the incredible 9-8 win the Giants are tied for the White Sox for the second best record in baseball and keep first place to themselves, one game ahead of the Bums. With the Padres losing the NL West is getting to be more a two-team race.
The DBacks have lost 21 straight road games. I almost feel bad for them, almost.. but not really.
Brandon Belt also had a great night going 3-3 with a double and a triple. Steven Duggar hit a key two-run homer and Donovan Solano went 2-4. Tyler Rogers pitched a perfect ninth for the save and the winning pitcher was ForeverGiant Jimmy Sherfy.
No way the Giants lost on St. Timmy’s birthday.
Happy Birthday to #ForeverGiant, Tim Lincecum! 🥳 pic.twitter.com/cMGFbpPWxk
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 15, 2021
Tonight’s Game
It is Merrill Kelly vs Anthony Desclafani for the third game of the four game set. Game time is 6:45 PM, at Willie Mays Field.