SAN FRANCISCO — Expect changes to the Giants’ lineup after the team was shut out for the second straight game to start its season.
Manager Tony Vitello rolled out the same group after San Francisco was blanked in its season opener Wednesday, but after mustering just one hit off Cam Schlittler in a 3-0 loss to the Yankees on Friday, the rookie manager said he plans to shake things up.
“Wednesday’s lineup didn’t have much to show, but we met on it and left it as is,” Vitello said. “There’s a good chance there will be some variance tomorrow based off the numbers and a new pitcher on the mound.”
In two games against Max Fried, Schlittler and the Yankees’ bullpen, the Giants have produced zero runs, four hits, four walks and 19 strikeouts. It’s the first time in the franchise’s 143-year history that it has been blanked in back-to-back games to begin a season.
Surely, they’ll have more luck against Saturday’s starter, Will Warren, regardless of the batting order. Even a sample as minuscule as 59 at-bats (and the accompanying .068 batting average) is bound for some regression to the mean.
“It’s kind of all about sample size. Over and over, we’ve talked about being in this for the long haul,” Vitello said. “I think that’s where our guys’ mindset is. But there’s also a pressing need in there for some feel-good and also to want to perform for the fans.”
Still, it’s far from the output expected after San Francisco added Luis Arraez and Harrison Bader to a lineup that already included Willy Adames, Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers.
Chapman accounted for both of the Giants’ walks in Friday’s loss, while a softly hit double down the right field line from Heliot Ramos amounted to their only extra-base hit in two games.
Adames struck out three times Friday and is hitless in seven at-bats. Devers also earned a hat trick in their latest loss and is 1 for 8. Bader and Arraez have combined to reach base twice in 14 total trips to the plate.
Adames watched a close strike three that scraped the inside corner after Chapman reached on a walk to begin the seventh, trailing 3-0. Rather than use either of the two ABS challenges the Giants had, he walked back to the dugout visibly upset.
“I think that’s one where if he was disappointed in himself, that’s fine,” Vitello said. “If it was frustration out of [the called strike], that was an opportunity where it could’ve been used.”
The Giants have yet to challenge a pitch on offense, despite watching the Yankees do so twice, including an overturned call a few pitches before Aaron Judge deposited a two-run homer halfway up the left field bleachers that broke a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth.
“I definitely wouldn’t doubt our guys’ efforts, but if you’re trying too hard and things start to move fast on you, maybe you’re a little bit hesitant and you’re not wanting to be the one who makes a mistake,” Vitello said. “I think they’ll settle in and find a little bit more of a comfort zone, but if you analyze the last two days, there were more opportunities to [challenge] than we utilized.”
Effort and emotion were two themes Vitello continued to touch on after the game as he attempted to find answers for the Giants’ woeful start to his tenure in the dugout.
As in: too much of both.
Between Netflix’s Opening Night on Wednesday, the Giants’ traditional season-opening festivities before Friday afternoon’s game and a “fire and brimstone” speech that Vitello gave to the team Tuesday, the manager wondered if emotions were running too high.
“The results, or the numbers, look like there’s not a lot of try-hard,” Vitello said. “But kind of the old baseball adage, there’s probably too much. Maybe that extends to that conversation prior to the season. Or maybe it just stems from all the Opening Day fanfare.”
Robbie Ray, who limited the Yankees to three runners over 5 ⅓ innings besides Judge’s home run and the double from Paul Goldschmidt that preceded it, dismissed that idea.
“We’re all major-league players,” he said. “I think we can handle the ups and downs.”
All the same, Ramos shrugged off the idea of switching up the batting order.
“We’ve just got to get on base,” Ramos said. “We’ve got to execute. … It’s just two games to start the season. We’ve just got to get going.”
Consider it the first true test for the first-year manager, given Vitello at least deployed his bullpen as well as he can while playing from behind. A solo shot from Giancarlo Stanton off Jose Butto amounted to the only run the Giants’ relievers have allowed in 7 ⅔ innings.
The bullpen was considered a question mark. The reinvigorated lineup was supposed to be a strength. That hasn’t been the case, at least through a two-game sample.
“I’d kind of put it on me a little bit,” Vitello said. “Get all fire and brimstone a few days ago. I think some good words were shared. But I also think as of right now, it’s a little emotional in there.”