Hours before the San Francisco Giants continued their best start since 2003 at Yankee Stadium, manager Bob Melvin made lineup changes by moving Mike Yastrzemski up to the leadoff slot and switching LaMonte Wade Jr. from leadoff to sixth.
The move worked out for the Giants, who will attempt to maintain their strong start Saturday afternoon when they visit the suddenly struggling New York Yankees.
At 10-3, the Giants are off to their best 13-game start since the 2003 team bolted out to a 13-1 record and won 15 of its first 17 contests. The Giants used Wade for nine games at leadoff but he batted .125, while Yastrzemski hit well while batting lower in the lineup.
On Friday, Yastrzemski sparked a five-run first inning with a double on the game’s first pitch and is hitting .343 overall. Wade snapped an 0-for-17 skid with a two-run double after Jung Hoo Lee hit a three-run homer in the frame.
“We try to stay consistent,” Melvin said prior to Friday’s 9-1 romp, called after six innings due to rain. “We’ve obviously won some games and have a good flow to our lineup. LaMonte is struggling just a little bit for him, and Yaz is swinging good. When you have someone as hot as him, you want to try to get him up there. He’s led off before, so he’s used to it.”
The Yankees lost for the fourth time in five games on Friday and mustered just two hits, including an RBI double by Austin Wells. New York has scored 11 runs in its past five games and has one homer in those games after hitting 25 in its first eight.
New York also is struggling on the mound of late, and even with Max Fried’s dominant seven innings on Wednesday in Detroit, its starters have an MLB-worst 5.46 ERA. On Friday, Marcus Stroman allowed five runs while getting two outs in a 46-pitch outing and then was sent for X-rays on his left knee.
“We’ve got to do better,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously we’re coming off a great start with Max, but we’ve struggled to this point. It’s 13 games in but, night in and night out, pitch a little bit better to put us in a good situation. We’ll keep working at it.”
Stroman’s short start led the Yankees to use four relievers (Ryan Yarbrough, Ian Hamilton, Tim Hill and Yoendrys Gomez), although the game being stopped after six innings saved them from burning further through their bullpen.
Right-hander Will Warren (0-0, 6.00 ERA) will get the start on Saturday after experiencing mixed results in his first two outings. After allowing two runs in five innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 1, Warren yielded four runs and six hits in four innings Sunday versus the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Warren has never faced the Giants.
Right-hander Jordan Hicks (1-0, 2.38 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound Saturday for San Francisco.
Hicks pitched six scoreless innings in a 7-2 win on March 31 at Houston and then allowed three runs and six hits, including homers to Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh, in 5 1/3 innings during a no-decision Sunday. The Giants won 5-4.
Hicks is 0-1 with a 3.27 ERA in six career appearances against the Yankees. In his only start against New York, Hicks allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings in a 6-2 loss last May 31 in San Francisco.
–Field Level Media
