NEW YORK — The conditions at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon were far more tenable compared to Friday night, so much so that the Giants and Yankees were able to play a full, nine-inning game. That said, the bar to clear was as low as the temperature.
The weather was still frigid. The wind was still chilling. The rain was still annoying. On Friday night, that was the recipe for San Francisco’s blowout win. On Saturday afternoon, it was the recipe for an 8-4 loss to the New York Yankees (8-6) as Jordan Hicks allowed a career-high seven earned runs over four-plus innings.
Wilmer Flores continued his hot stretch to begin the season by driving in all four of San Francisco’s (10-4) runs and hitting his sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot that tied him with Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Kyle Schwarber, Tommy Edman, Tyler Soderstrom and Tommy Edman for the most in all of baseball.
Of the seven runs that Hicks allowed, five of them crossed home plate in the bottom of the fifth, a frame where Hicks couldn’t record a single out. Hicks faced five batters in the fifth, and those plate appearances went as follows: single, single, single, double, walks. Hicks departed with the Giants trailing, 4-2, and Randy Rodríguez inherited loaded bases with no outs.
By the time Rodríguez ended the inning, the Yankees’ lead ballooned to 7-2. Anthony Volpe drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, Jasson Domínguez slapped a two-run single to left and Hicks ended up with an inflated ERA.
Prior to that inning, Hicks had been trading zeros with Yankees starter Will Warren after each gave up two in the early going. The Yankees scored two runs in the bottom of the first on Cody Bellinger’s RBI triple and Paul Goldschmidt’s sacrifice fly, but the Giants responded in the top of the second on Flores’ two-run homer. Following the early fireworks, the game remained scoreless until the decisive bottom of the fifth.
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Flores, as he is wont to do, kept San Francisco in the ballgame. The Giants loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the sixth, but were close to squandering the golden opportunity with Heliot Ramos popped out and LaMonte Wade Jr. struck out. Enter Flores, who flipped a two-run single to right-center field and slashed the deficit to 7-4. The following half-inning, the Yankees got one of those runs right back as Ben Rice launched a solo home run off Lou Trivino.
Worth noting
Jung Hoo Lee has now reached base safely in 12 of the 13 games he’s played this year after drawing a walk and hitting a double.
