The Giants’ media guide lists every Splash Hit in Oracle Park’s two-decade history, and is very specific about what the rules are. Above the list of 130 home runs, the organization has said that Splash Hits is a sentence that makes it clear that “they have been hit on the wall of right field and landed in McCovey Cove on the fly.”
Thus, Mike Yastrzemski lost his first Splash Hit race due to a technicality. Yastrzemski threw a Chris Paddock trade at 379 feet in the third inning, but before hitting the water, he looked toward a pillar designed to launch water into the air after home runs. The ticker on the right field wall did not move.
Six innings later, Yastrzemski made sure there was no doubt.
The sophomore outfielder fired a majestic shot that dropped about 10 feet into the cove, giving the Giants a 7-6 victory over the Padres on a night they lost three runs and headed to the eighth.
WALKING THE SPALSH HIT FOR YAZ 🙌
And the socially distanced celebration at the end 😂 pic.twitter.com/X69Jsg01fj
– SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 30, 2020
Donovan Solano tied it with one hit, and a few minutes later Yastrzemski continued to build his case as the club’s best player. It wasn’t just that he hit two home runs. This is how he did it. Yastrzemski took one of the game’s best right-handers and then homered left-hander Matt Strahm. In a squad-built lineup, there’s little doubt he’s locked in as an everyday player.
“I think tonight was an important moment in Yaz’s career,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He gave Paddock a change, which was really encouraging for the people who hit, who like to see the bat stay on the plane and spread across the area and bring that ball up into the air to the shooting side. It was really awesome swing.
“And then obviously facing a tough left-hander at the end of the game, also lifting that ball up in the air to the shooting side, which is a real skill: right now he looks like a great versatile player. He’s starting to look like who Yaz is. “
This version of Yaz is one of the best versatile players in the National League right now. He’s hitting .409 in the first week of the season with a .500 on-base percentage. The Giants are using Yastrzemski in center field regularly, and it appears to be Kapler’s best bet as a permanent starting hitter.
“To be successful in this game, you must think that you are the best player on the field,” said Yastrzemski. “If you want to play against the best, you want that challenge. And to be in the situation of being in the big leagues right now and on the path I’ve taken, I’m super grateful every day. I try to take a balance of appreciation and a balance of trust and try to combine those things to enjoy every moment you have and every opportunity. “
Yastrzemski’s second home run was the fourth of the night for the Giants, who might suddenly be playing in a small hitter park. The ball took off in two exhibition games against the Athletics and Fernando Tatis Jr. and Wil Myers hit home runs Tuesday. The four-homer game was just the fourth at Oracle Park for the Giants in the past decade.
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Yastrzemski started and Alex Dickerson added a bang to neutral. Solano’s homer set up the drama for the ninth inning.
“He is one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen,” Yastrzemski said of Solano. “He doesn’t get the nickname Donnie Barrels for nothing.”
The Giants have dropped that nickname in Solano due to their tendency to hit everything at the sweet spot. It was given to him sometime last year and he got stuck, unlike the nickname Yastrzemski rolls with.
Yastrzemski simply always passed by Yaz, just like his grandfather, but he could roll with the nickname “Barrels” if he wanted to. Right now he’s balancing everything, and at last, that led to a moment every left-handed hitter who enters Oracle Park dreams of.
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Yastrzemski said he was aware of the fact that he didn’t have a Splash Hit on his resume. As a right fielder for most of last year, he watched the ticker every night.
“It’s one of those things where it’s like saying something dreamy, you hit a ball against McCovey Cove,” he said. “Doing it was really super surreal and super fun.”
