After visit with grandfather, Yaz fuels Giants with Fenway HR

BOSTON -- When the baseball gods are present at Fenway Park, that’s usually good news for the home team, but a pregame visitor to the Giants’ clubhouse on Thursday morning handed the visiting club some much needed mojo as they pulled off a 3-1 victory and avoided a sweep.

Prior to the game, Mike Yastrzemski was visited by his Hall of Fame grandfather Carl, one of the greatest Red Sox players of all time. The Giants’ right fielder was able to spend about 10 minutes with the man he calls “Papa Yaz” and though they didn’t talk baseball, some magic rubbed off somewhere in the mix.

“I think he left the car running when he came in here,” joked Mike of his grandfather’s brief visit to the ballpark. “That’s normal. He’s quick to the point. We didn’t even really talk about hitting. He just asked how I was feeling physically. Good to see him and it was fun to have him around for a minute.”

About an hour or so later, Yastrzemski would launch a 393-foot, solo home run into the Boston bullpen in right field to give his team a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning.

“It got a smile out of me,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s just, baseball gods. He’s a pretty good hitter, too. It’s tough to hit a ball out of the ballpark here. The way we’ve been swinging the bat, at the time it felt like it was more than one run.”

It was the second career home run at the park he grew up coming to as a kid, though this time around he was able to enjoy things more, compared to when he made his first visit to the park as a big leaguer in 2019.

“This one felt a little bit more normalized,” he said. “I got to enjoy it now more than ever.”

Yastrzemski acknowledged his cheering family following the home run, but as he was rounding second base, the Giants outfielder threw his hand up, then threw a "peace sign" gesture towards his own bullpen.

“They love to get the attention,” explained Yaz of the team’s relief pitchers, who of late have been jokingly getting on hitters for not giving them due recognition on home runs. “I got yelled at for that, so I gave them a little wave and gave them a little love.”

The bullpen certainly deserved praise after four relievers held Boston to just one hit over the final four innings, each striking out one batter.

Starter Kyle Harrison struggled early with command issues, allowing a season-high five walks, but he would only allow one run and used seven strikeouts to work out of trouble.

“I wasn’t able to get ahead as much,” explained Harrison, who would go five innings. “I thought my changeup wasn’t as good today and I didn’t get ahead enough to throw it in certain counts.”

The San Francisco bats got the upper hand and broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning when they strung together three straight singles and a sacrifice fly to push two runs across in the frame.

For Yastrzemski, the big hit was a continuation of a strong couple of weeks at the plate as he has hit .379 over his last 11 games after hitting just .121 over his first 13.

For the Giants, after dropping the first two games of a nine-game road swing, the clubhouse was amped to leave Boston with a win in their pocket, knowing that on this particular day, that old Fenway magic was in their corner.

“I was just awestruck. I didn’t have a ton to say to him,” said Melvin, who asked “Papa Yaz” if he had been watching the team’s games. “There's some cool days in baseball, and I’ve had a lot of them. This is one of them.”