DENVER — After the Giants were swept in Philadelphia on Monday, manager Bob Melvin held a team meeting.
San Francisco had just lost for the eighth time in 11 games, and in that span, the lineup averaged 2.5 runs per contest.
Something needed to be said. And judging by what transpired over the next 48 hours, the message was received.
“He had the right thing to say at the right time,” said Mike Yastrzemski after he went 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored in the Giants’ 8-6 win over the Rockies at Coors Field on Wednesday night.
“And I think everyone felt it. It was real.”
So, too, was a play from Wednesday’s victory emblematic of a reenergized club that hopes Philly represented rock bottom before the Rocky Mountains would come to define the beginning of an ascension.
With one out and runners at the corners in the second inning, Yastrzemski took his lead away from third base. Nick Ahmed was at the plate. A squeeze play was on.
As Ahmed squared, and laid down the bunt Yastrzemski got a great jump and bolted for home. Ahmed’s bunt went just to the right of the mound, where Rockies starter Peter Lambert fielded it and shoveled it to catcher Elias Díaz
Yastrzemski’s final move wasn’t so much of a slide as it was a belly flop. He landed hard with his left hand, slapping the plate just ahead of Díaz’s tag.
Yastrzemski’s average sprint speed is below average, at 26.6 feet per second (the MLB average is 27). But on this play, Statcast had him at 28.1 feet per second.
“It’s just been a matter of execution,” he said. “I think that’s kind of the biggest thing we’ve been doing these last two games is executing.”
Executing. Doing the little things. Taking the extra base. Making the heads-up play. It’s what the Giants are trying to hone in on, and even though Yastrzemski said it’s been a point of emphasis from Day 1 of Spring Training, it seems to have gotten lost. And Philly was the breaking point.
When Yastrzemski scored on the squeeze play, the score was 3-0 in favor of San Francisco. In all, the Giants would tie a season-high with a six-run frame — they also scored six runs in the eighth inning of a 9-6 win over the Padres on March 30.
Michael Conforto got things going with a home run into the right field seats to lead off the six-run second inning. That gave starter Jordan Hicks some early run support in a notoriously pitcher-unfriendly park. Hicks went five innings in his first career start at Coors Field, giving up three runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out five.
Conforto, who went 3-for-4 on the night, agreed that Philadelphia was a wake-up call. He also said the squeeze play was “a great example” of who the Giants want to be.
“Those are the kinds of little things that we wanna bring, that we’re capable of,” he said. “…There’s a number of examples in the last two days that kind of show what kind of attitude we’re trying to bring.”
One of those other examples was when Yastrzemski stepped to the plate to lead off the third. I have lined the first pitch from Lambert down the right-field line. As he rounded first, that attitude Conforto spoke of took over.
“When I got three-quarters of the way to second, I saw the outfielder still had the ball,” Yastrzemski said. “I’ve made that throw plenty of times and I know how hard it is to get rid of that quickly and accurately.”
Yastrzemski stretched it to a triple and scored on a Blake Sabol double. It was another aggressive play that helped the Giants bounce back after a 1-6 start to their longest road trip of the season.
San Francisco scored 13 runs in the first two games of their series against Colorado. Yes, it was a hitter’s paradise against a team with MLB’s worst record.
But more than anything else, this club has had a different look since the Philadelphia meeting.
“I think everyone took a really good perspective from the Philadelphia series,” Yastrzemski said. “It was a tough one. It was hard to swallow.
“Nobody wants to feel that way again.”
