Ross Stripling, Giants' offense must respond after rough first showing
Stripling, Giants' bats must respond after rough first showing originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
NEW YORK -- The new rules meant Sunday's game lasted just two hours and 27 minutes, but that still left plenty of time for Ross Stripling to get his sense of humor back after he was removed from a disappointing debut.
Asked about a mammoth home run that he gave up to Giancarlo Stanton, Stripling first pointed out that the pitch was poorly located, saying sliders to Stanton and Aaron Judge were "soft-served over the middle." Both were hit out, with Stanton's leaving the yard at 117.8 mph and flying an estimated 485 feet.
"I thought the wind was blowing out a little bit," Stripling added. "So maybe it's 460 on a normal day."
The right-hander, signed to a two-year contract in the offseason, gave up three homers on the day, which ended with a 6-0 loss. Judge's left the bat at 111 mph and gave the New York Yankees a lead in the third inning. Two batters later, Stanton hit the third-longest homer in the history of the new Yankee Stadium.
Stripling said he always turns around just to make sure a ball actually does get over the wall, but there wasn't much doubt on either rocket.
"Bad sliders to pretty much the two strongest hitters in baseball, and they didn't miss them," he said.
Stripling will try to bounce back in a more forgiving environment. He's likely to make his second start for the Giants at home against the Kansas City Royals, and he's eager to show that he's worth the offseason investment. Stripling said his command was just a bit off on Sunday, and manager Gabe Kapler pointed out that Stripling consistently missed just off the edges. The ones he left in the zone got punished.
"Obviously that was enough because we weren't able to push runs across on our end," Kapler said.
--- The Giants were blanked in two of their first three games for the first time since moving from New York to San Francisco, and there was a consistent theme to their at-bats. They struck out 16 times in the opener, 13 times on Saturday, and 12 on Sunday (they're headed in the right direction, at least).
They struck out in 23.9 percent of their plate appearances last year, 10th in the majors. Through three games they're at 37.3 percent.
"You go through a three-game stretch, or a five- or a 10-game stretch and you're going to have times where you strike out more," Kapler said. "We always want to be putting the ball in play with authority. It's the No. 1 goal. We weren't able to do that as much as we needed to in this series."
Gabe Kapler describes the type of mentality he wants to see from Giants batters pic.twitter.com/lS4YLa0SYW
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The majority came from key left-handed bats the Giants are going to need, especially in the next series when they face right-handers Michael Kopech, Dylan Cease and Lance Lynn. Michael Conforto struck out in six of 12 plate appearances against the Yankees and Joc Pederson, Brandon Crawford and Mike Yastrzemski all have five strikeouts through three starts.
The Giants go left-left-right, left-left-right against right-handed pitching, but Kapler said it doesn't matter to him where they're coming from.
"I'm not sure it's lefties versus righties," he said. "I think it's the goal of every one of our hitters to look for a pitch to drive hard in the middle of the field. A low, line drive trajectory -- these guys are going to go up to the plate with that mentality every time. Obviously they know that they need to put the ball in play as much as they possibly can, put the ball in play with authority, work deep counts, see pitches, and be selective.
"It's always going to be something that you're working on. I think we're going to find times where we don't do it as good as we can, and I don't think we did it as good as we can in this series."
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--- Blake Sabol's first big league game behind the plate was mostly uneventful until the seventh, when three wild pitches helped the Yankees tack on. The misses from Sean Hjelle were so big that Sabol didn't even really have a chance, and Kapler said that only one of the three could have been blocked.
"I thought he did a fine job," he said.
Stripling also was complimentary, saying they were on the same page throughout and Sabol "should be really encouraged" by his first time behind the plate. With Joey Bart on the IL, he's likely to get at least one start at catcher in each of the next two series.
--- The first game in Chicago has been moved from 3:10 p.m. CT to 2:10 because of rain that's supposed to hit the city in the afternoon and evening. Anthony DeSclafani will make his season debut with Sean Manaea likely to follow him.
With an off day on Tuesday, the Giants moved Logan Webb up to start the fifth game of the season on Wednesday. Alex Wood gets the series finale on Thursday.
