SF Giants lose on frigid afternoon as Hicks allows career-worst seven runs
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 pervasive. On Friday night, that was the recipe for San Francisco’s blowout win. On Saturday afternoon, it was the foundation 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.
“Just kind of all over the place,” Hicks said. “First inning, had some traffic. I feel like it takes more to stay warm, stay loose. Besides that, just felt like a normal day pitching. Just got hit around a little bit.”
The biting weather couldn’t cool down Wilmer Flores, who continued his blazing stretch 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. Along with the homer, Flores drove in two runs with a single to record his second four-RBI day of the season.
“It feels good. I keep saying it: It just feels good to help the team,” Flores said.
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, walk. 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 (5.87). Hicks said his body felt fine as he went out for the fifth, but tightened up as the inning went along.
“In these conditions, it’s going to be hard to stay that warm for that long,” Hicks said. “Just a battle day. Get them next time and kind of wash that one from the memory because most days you’re going to have better conditions.”
Added Melvin: “I had to give him a little rope there — we got 17 games in a row. But in the second, third and fourth, he looked really good as we’ve seen earlier in this year. Then in the fifth, just couldn’t get an out. (The Yankees) put together some good at-bats and strung them together on him.”
Hicks’ velocity was noticeably down with all four of his pitches. Compared to his season average, his sinker was 1.7 mph slower while his splitter was 1.8 mph slower. Hicks attributed the drop to the conditions, assessing that today’s weather was in the top-five of coldest games he’s ever pitched in.
“You’re not going to be fully as hot as an 80 degree day,” Hicks said. “I wasn’t really too worried about the velo. It had good action. It actually had a lot more movement today than any of my other starts and had some sinkers run a little too much. Wasn’t really expecting that, but that’s what you deal with coming from West Coast to East Coast.”
Hicks’ outing was on a different trajectory prior to the fifth inning. After allowing two runs in the bottom of the first on Cody Bellinger’s RBI triple and Paul Goldschmidt’s sacrifice fly, Hicks posted scoreless innings in the second, third and fourth, getting run support in the second on Flores’ two-run homer.
“It’s pretty insane,” Hicks said of Flores. “It’s fun to watch. Only got to see spurts of it last year, so to see Flo in his element, it’s been really fun to watch and a good surprise.”
The Giants had an opportunity to make a last ditch comeback in the top of the ninth inning, putting runners on second and third with no outs, but squandered the opportunity as they finished 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
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.