Anthony Volpe gets first two major-league hits, but Yankees fall to Giants
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe follows through on his single against the Giants during the second inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Anthony Volpe will never forget his first two big-league hits. He’d likely prefer they had come in a Yankees victory, though.
Volpe got his first hit with a second-inning single and his second with a single in the ninth on Saturday. But the Yankees lost to the San Francisco Giants, 7-5, before 41,642 at Yankee Stadium.
Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt lasted only 3 1⁄3 innings and allowed three runs.
Schmidt’s short start forced Aaron Boone to go to his bullpen early, which usually is not a problem for the Yankees. But Michael King, pitching in a 3-3 game, allowed a pair of runs in the sixth and Clay Holmes gave up two more in the ninth.
Those last two runs really stung as the Yankees tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth against Camilo Doval.
Volpe singled with one out, DJ LeMahieu walked, Aaron Judge singled to left to bring the Yankees within 7-5 and Anthony Rizzo walked to load the bases. But Giancarlo Stanton, who had homered earlier, grounded into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.
“That’s unacceptable in that situation,” Stanton said.
Boone challenged the out calls at second and first just in case the replay folks wanted to declare the game not over because either the second or first baseman didn’t have his toe on the bag with the ball. It was close, but the calls stood. “I was just challenging because I knew they were close to the naked eye,” Boone said. “It was just end of the game, and it looked like it was close either way.”
The go-ahead hit off King in the sixth was particularly frustrating for the Yankees.
The Giants had the bases loaded with one out when La-Monte Wade Jr. tapped a checked-swing dribbler to the third-base side of the mound. Neither King nor catcher Jose Trevino made a play on the ball.
San Francisco made it 5-3 when Thairo Estrada hit a line drive that a diving Volpe stopped but could not hold onto. His backhanded flip to second base was too late to get a forceout.
Volpe’s first hit was a line single to left on a 1-and-2 pitch from Alex Cobb that got just past the diving attempt of shortstop Brandon Crawford. The ball was thrown into the Yankees’ dugout for the 21-year-old Volpe to keep. Volpe (2-for-4), who stole second without a throw after the first hit, also smashed a single to center with one out in the ninth.
“It was an awesome moment,” he said of his first hit. “I felt like I was battling. It was good to at least get the bat on the ball, and to see it go through was a bonus. A great moment for me and my career . . . one I won’t forget.”
Stanton made it 2-0 when he lined a 112.3-mph, 370-foot solo home run to right in the third.
Schmidt, who switched his uniform number from 86 to 36 before the game, was hit hard in the Giants’ three-run fourth.
Joc Pederson led off with a homer to right to make it 2-1. Mike Yastrzemski doubled and moved to third when David Villar hit a drive that Judge caught on the warning track.
Boone got up his lone lefthanded reliever, Wandy Peralta, presumably to face lefthanded batter Crawford. But — perhaps because Villar hit the first pitch — Schmidt stayed in to face Crawford, who smacked a two-run homer to right to give the Giants a 3-2 lead.
Then Peralta came in.
“They strung together some good ABs that fourth inning against me,” Schmidt said. “It’s frustrating when you’re making good pitches and they’re spoiling them.”
The Yankees tied it at 3 in the fifth on Rizzo’s RBI double off reliever Jakob Junis. But with runners at second and third and none out, the Yankees could not push across another run. Stanton grounded to third, Josh Donaldson struck out looking and Gleyber Torres hit a checked-swing grounder to the mound.
After the Giants went ahead, Donaldson homered to left in the eighth to make it 5-4. But Yastrzemski and Crawford hit RBI doubles off Holmes in the ninth.
“We should have [at least tied it in the ninth],” Stanton said. “I have to put us in a better spot, at least, to get one run in and stay out of the double play. I could have put us in a better position to win the game [with] two at-bats tonight. I didn’t get it done.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
