San Francisco Giants Brandon Crawford went deep connecting for a two run top of the fourth inning home run against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York on Sat Apr 1, 2023 (AP News photo)
By Jessica Kwong
NEW YORK.—The San Francisco Giants came back from their blowout loss on Opening Day and beat the New York Yankees 7-5 in game two of the series at Yankee Stadium on Saturday evening.
New York made a strong comeback effort at the bottom of the ninth inning. They had the bases loaded and Giancarlo Stanton at-bat. But Giants relief pitcher Camilo Doval retired Stanton on a double-play grounder, giving the Giants a win and tying the series at 1-1.
Doval gave up Yankees captain Aaron Judge’s 500th career RBI in the ninth. But Doval earned a critical save when Stanton hit a ground ball to shortstop Brandon Crawford. Second baseman Thairo Estrada threw the ball low to first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr, who caught it. The play was under video review, and wound up in favor of the Giants as rain came down after a warm spring day in the Bronx.
“Live and it looked before they paused, he kept it long enough,” Crawford said of Estrada. “LaMonte was definitely on the bag. I wasn’t too worried.”
Crawford lead the Giants by hitting a two run home run in the fourth inning, driving in three runs and stealing a base in the contest.
“It was a good day. My best game of the year so far,” said Crawford with a laugh, as it was only the second game of the 2023 season.
The game has four pitch clock violations, including two by Doval in the ninth and San Francisco’s Taylor Rogers. Giants manager Gabe Kapler said they didn’t have that issue during spring training.
“We saw a good mastery of it,” said Kapler. “This is a different environment and it’s understandable that things sped up a little bit, but no pitcher’s going to survive giving away balls like that. It doesn’t matter how good you are.”
Giants’ Blake Sabol had his first major league hit – a bunt, which he wasn’t expecting. Sabol, who is from Southern California, was at Angel Stadium when star Mike Trout had his first hit, which was also a bunt.
Yankees infielder Anthony Rizzoa at first base told Sabol: “Hey man, they all count the same. Don’t let anybody tell you different.”
Giants starting pitcher Alex Cobb gave up two runs as well as four hits in 3 2/3 innings.
The Giants conclude this three game series with the Yankees Sunday. The Giants will be starting right hander Ross Stripling he’ll be opposed by the Yankees right hander Jhony Brito at Yankees Stadium a 10:35 am PDT first pitch.
New York in their home opener on Thursday beat the Giants 5-0.
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