After the traditional day off after the home opener (put in place just in case weather postpones the home opener), the Yankees played a 4:05 Saturday-on-Fox game at Yankee Stadium II, against the San Francisco Giants.
Nobody really thought the Yankees would go 162-0. But it was reasonable to hope that a loss blamable on manager Aaron Boone's bad pitching-staff management -- or on an atrocious umpire -- would happen considerably later than the 2nd game of the season.
Home plate umpire Andy Fletcher was all over the place with his ball & strike calls. Some benefited the Yankees. Many didn't.
Boone chose Clarke Schmidt start the game for the Yankees. This was not a good sign to me: He wasn't a good reliever, and now he's filling the injured Luis Severino's hole in the rotation? And then he he walks the opening batter of the game? Oy vey. But he got the next 3 guys out. He let 2 guys on in the 2nd, but worked out of it. He got through the 3rd okay, with Aaron Judge making a great catch in center field to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 1st, Judge singled, Anthony Rizzo walked, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a comebacker that opposing starter Alex Cobb threw to 2nd, to start a double play. But he made a bad thrown, and Judge scored. Officially, that's an unearned run, but since the pitcher made the error, he should be charged with an earned run.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Anthony Volpe singled to left, for his 1st major league hit, and stole 2nd. But he was stranded. Stanton hit a home run to the opposite field, the short porch, in the 3rd. Schmidt lost the shutout in the 4th inning, when Joc Pederson hit one to the short porch. Remember, people: It's the same conditions for both teams. With the Giants' orange, the neon yellow piping on his batting gloves and pads, and also wearing a helmet, Pederson looked like a construction worker.
Schmidt fell apart after that, allowing a double to Mike Yastrzemski and a home run to Brian Crawford, putting the Yankees in a 3-2 hole. Boone called on Wandy Peralta, who hit the 1st batter he faced, Blake Sabol. (No relation to Ed and Steve Sabol, the father and son who founded NFL Films.)
Peralta got out of that, and got the 1st 2 outs in the 5th. Then Boone changed pitchers again, for not good reason. He brought in Mike King, who got out of the inning. In the bottom of the inning, DJ LeMahieu hit one to center, and Yaz's grandson lost the ball in the sun, and DJLM got to 2nd base, bringing Judge up with nobody out. He singled DJLM over to 3rd. Rizzo doubled into the right-field corner, scoring DJLM. Cliché Alert: It was a nice piece of hitting.
Stanton grounded to 3rd, so the runners had to hold. Josh Donaldson got called out on a pitch that was way outside, and Gleyber Torres grounded out, so an inning that could have seen the Yankees break the game wide open didn't happen. And then King, who never should have been brought in, allowed 2 runs in the top of the 6th.
Boone brought Albert Abreu in for the 7th. He was shaky, and was shaky again in the 8th. Josh Donaldson homered in the bottom of the 8th, to pull the Yankees within 5-4. Clay Holmes, the supposed replacement for the supposed closer Aroldis Chapman, gave that run right back in the top of the 9th, and added another. Boone brought Jimmy Cordero in for his Yankee debut, and he ended the inning.
Aaron Hicks was sent up to pinch-hit to start the bottom of the 9th. On a 3-1 count, he took ball 4, well outside, but Fletcher called strike 2. Then Hicks checked his swing on a low pitch that should have been ball 4, but Fletcher called strike 3.
The Yankees did begin a comeback. Volpe singled. LeMahieu walked. Judge singled Volpe home to make it 7-5. Rizzo walked to load the bases with 1 out. Stanton up. He was the beneficiary of a ball 1 call due to a pitch-clock violation. But he grounded into a double play to end it.
Giants 7, Yankees 5. WP: Jakob Junis (1-0). SV: Camilo Duval (1). LP: King (0-1).
But as bad as Fletcher was, this loss is on Boone. He chose the starting pitcher. He chose when to bring in the relievers, and which ones.
The series concludes tomorrow afternoon. Jhony Brito is set to make his major league debut, against Ron Stripling. Brito had better be better than Schmidt was today.