San Francisco – Jurickson Profar’s grand slam in the first inning, followed by a strong outing on the mound by starter Michael King, was all the Padres needed to send the Giants home with a 4-0 loss, the first time San Francisco has been shut out this season.
“Sometimes you just gotta pick up when some things go wrong in the first inning,” said Giants manager Bob Melvin. “Big swing by Profar.”
San Francisco’s starting pitcher Keaton Winn struggled in the first inning, he loaded the bases after a leadoff single by Xander Bogearts, followed by a two-out single by Manny Mobachado and walked Ha-Seong Kim. Bogearts swung at the first pitch he saw and hit it over the wall in right field for the grand slam, his first of the season and third of his career. The grand slam by Profar was the only scoring hit of the game.
Maybe baseball just happened,” Winn said. “I can’t be walking guys; I have to be more efficient.”
Jung Hoo Lee lost sight of Bogearts leadoff single in the sun at center field to start the game. Winn added that Lee apologized to him in the dugout for the mistake that, eventually, loaded the bases.
“That’s just part of the game, part of pitching in Oracle Stadium,” said Winn. “The sun does play a factor, but I have to be able to play through that. I can get quick outs and a lot of ground balls, so it’s something that I’m going to work on more going forward.”
“When the ball got hit it escaped my view,” Lee explained. “I wasn’t able to see it from the sunlight and I’ve never played a home game at this time at Oracle Park, so I wasn’t experienced with it.”
Winn managed to settle down after allowing San Diego’s big inning. The next five innings on the mound he held the Padres hitless, allowing just two walks. Winn went six innings, allowed four runs on the grand slam with three hits, all in the first inning, and three total walks, throwing 87 pitches.
On the other end, San Diego’s starter King shut down the Giants lineup completely. King allowed four hits scattered over seven innings with four strikeouts. San Francisco only had two baserunners reach second base throughout the night.
“He threw the ball over the plate and only walked one,” Melvin said. In the previous start last weekend in San Diego, King only went four innings and allowed seven walks to the Giants. “He had a really good changeup, really good sinker, sweeper as well. He’s a pretty good pitcher.
We just didn’t come through with runners in scoring position.”
The four-hit night by San Francisco was the lowest production by the team so far in the young season. One positive on the night was that outfielder Mike Yastrzemski recorded his first hit of the season, snapping a hitless streak of 27 at-bats dating back to last year, the longest in the majors entering Saturday.
“He’s just off to a little bit of a slow start,” said Melvin. “He hit the ball good.”
Yaztrzemski’s lone single the game came in the second inning. He advanced to second a few pitches later on a passed ball by Padres catcher Luis Campusano.
The Giants will look to take the series against the Padres Sunday afternoon with Logan Webb (0-1, 6.52 ERA) taking the mound against Matt Waldron (0-1, 9.00 ERA) at 1:05 p.m.
Notes:
Popular San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval signed with the Staten Island Ferryhawks, an independent club out of New York City that plays in the Atlantic League.
He last appeared in 2023 with the Mid East Falcons of the new Baseball United League in Abu Dhabi.
Sandoval spent the spring with the Giants, however, was released prior to Opening Day. He hit .250 in over 31 plate appearances over Spring Training.
Sandoval, widely known as “The Panda” during his tenure with San Francisco, was a big part of the Giants “even year dynasty” in the first half of the 2010s decade and was named World Series MVP in 2012 where he had a three home-run game in Game 1 of the World Series. Overall, he’s won four World Series rings, three with the Giants and one with the Boston Red Sox in 2017.
Sandoval and the Ferryhawks open the season on the road at the Charleston DIrty Birds on April 25, and will open at home in Staten Island against Southern Maryland on May 3.
Cobb shut down from rehab, Hjelle to start in San Jose. Giants’starting pitcher Alex Cobb’s rehab saw a minor pause on Friday after it was reported that he “felt his elbow bark” during a bullpen session back in Arizona. An MRI revealed a mild strain that Cobb is calling a “baby setback.”
Meanwhile, right-hander Sean Hjelle threw an inning with the Giants Single-A affiliate the San Jose Giants on Friday and is expected to continuing throwing in San Jose after spending time on the 15-day injured list after he said to feel discomfort in his elbow during a Spring Training outing against the Oakland Athletics back on Feb. 28.
“We’re taking it outing to outing,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of Hjelle’s progress before a Saturday night’s game against the San Diego Padres. “Typically for a reliever, it’s not obviously as lengthy as if it were a starter. We’re going to want him to go two innings because he’s a guy that, in his potential role, would be able to do that. I don’t think we’re there yet, but we’re getting close.”
Hjelle is eligible to return as soon as April 9.
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