The key moment that prevented what could have been a storybook comeback ending to the Giants’ home opener came when Mike Yastrzemski went down looking at a 2-2 curveball off the outside edge of the plate in the ninth inning.
Royals closer Scott Barlow got the call, and eventually the save in a 3-1 Kansas City victory.
After the strikeout call, the normally cool-headed Yastrzemski threw his hands over his head by home plate with an incredulous look at home plate umpire Clint Vondrak.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler, who normally avoids commenting on umpiring, defended Yastrzemski after the game.
“I don’t say this very often, but Yaz was battling his ass off in that at-bat,” Kapler said postgame. “Really disappointing to see that at-bat end the way it did. I won’t say anything more than that. But that’s really frustrating. Especially the way Yaz has been locked in and how hard he worked to get what would have been an advantage in that count. Not ideal.”
Had the pitch been called correctly, Yastrzemski would have been in a full count with no outs and Jockey Pederson standing on third. To that point, the center fielder was 1-for-3 with a lined single. He got out on a bunt and another line drive that left his bat at 97.7 mph.
“Yeah, I think I’ve been seeing the ball really well lately,” Yastrzemski said postgame. “That’s part of the frustration of it, too, is how good I;ve been feeling and not getting a chance to take a swing there. Obviously, mistakes happen. Just a really tough situation for it to happen in.”
Kapler called Yastrzemski’s reaction to the call “totally justified.”
“In this particular case, I really feel for him,” Kapler said. “Because as I mentioned, it’s a very challenging situation to focus on. Very challenging situation to really lock in. So, he does that. He sticks with our approach, looks for a pitch to drive…and he expects to be rewarded for that. I expect him to be rewarded for that. It’s really frustrating. Calls happen like that. I understand that umpires are human. My job is, at this point, to share what I saw. Which was a guy who was grinding his ass off and didn’t get rewarded for it, and that’s disappointing.”
After Yastrzemski went down, Thairo Estrada lined out, Brandon Crawford walked and Blake Sabol went down looking to end the game.