BOX SCORE
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants on Friday began a stretch of 17 games in 17 days, including 10 on this three-city trip against teams with winning records. It’s such a daunting trip that manager Bob Melvin joked Wednesday that he felt he was about to leave San Francisco for a month, but it couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
The Giants scored five runs before making an out at Yankee Stadium on Friday night and rolled to a 9-1 win in a game called in the sixth inning because of rain. They became the third team in the big leagues to reach double-digit wins, joining two in their division: The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
Given all the times he has talked about the Giants, and his grounder-heavy style, it’s a shock that Marcus Stroman hasn’t worn orange and black at some point. But his latest outing against them was one of the worst of his career. Stroman threw 46 pitches and didn’t get out of the first, leaving to some boos from a soaked crowd at Yankee Stadium.
The Giants kept pouring it on, drawing 11 walks and scoring seven of them. They would have done more damage, but the game — which was delayed at the start by rain — was delayed again in the top of the sixth with the bases loaded. After a short delay, it was called.
Jung Hoo Three
Jung Hoo Lee was injured last year when the Giants visited New York, but he didn’t waste any time once he entered the spotlight Friday. A leadoff double from Mike Yastrzemski and a walk by Willy Adames set the stage and Lee got the Giants on the board with a three-run blast to right, his first of the year.
The homer continued a barrage of extra-base hits from Lee, who bumped his OPS to an even 1.000. He leads the Majors with seven doubles and also had a triple on a big homestand. After slugging .331 as a rookie, he’s currently at .596. That’s what you want from your No. 3 hitter, even if Lee is getting there in a different way than most who hit in that spot.
Helped By The Rain
Robbie Ray took the mound with a five-run lead and gave up just one run, but he seemingly couldn’t hang around long enough to qualify for a third win in three starts. Ray did end up getting the win, though, thanks to an obscure rule.
As Jon Miller so brilliantly mentioned a couple of times on the broadcast, the scorekeeper can give the win to a starting pitcher who doesn’t go five if the game ends early. Because the game didn’t go six full innings, Ray ended up picking up his third win of the season despite pitching just four innings, one short of the usual requirement for starting pitchers.
It certainly was a well-earned win. Ray allowed two hits and struck out seven, although he also walked four and went to a full count to eight of 18 batters, which led to an early exit. The Yankees made him throw 59 pitches in the second and third, and that got Spencer Bivens warming up. Bivens took over in the fifth with the Giants leading by seven.
Ray very nearly became just the fourth Giant to strike out at least seven and allow fewer than three hits and two runs, but not qualify for the win. Instead, he headed home with a 3-0 record and 2.93 ERA.
A New Look
Melvin has tried to keep it consistent with his lineup, but he made a big change Friday. Yastrzemski, who entered the trip with a .462 on-base percentage, was moved to the top of the lineup. LaMonte Wade Jr., who was at .146, was moved down to the sixth spot. It worked out very well on the first night.
Yastrzemski pulled the game’s first pitch into the gap for a double and scored the first run of the five-run first. Wade drove in the final two with a double into the right field corner that brought Matt Chapman and Heliot Ramos racing home. He drew a walk his third time up and then walked again with the bases loaded in the sixth.
Wade is just 5-for-40 to start the year, but all five hits have gone for extra bases. He has three doubles, a triple and a homer.
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