Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Jeff Samardzija was fidgeting on the mound. Hunter Pence was pacing in right. Pablo Sandoval had a bat glued to his hands, the designated hitter craving any sniff of a pitch he could get.
And there were hints that this all wouldn’t solely be soaked in nostalgia. There was Samardzija darting through three innings making just one mistake. There was Pence lining a single to left-center. History will show that on March 2, there was Sandoval barreling from first to third on Pence’s base hit, which was about as stunning as the reunion that is taking place on the 2020 Giants.
“Like we went into a little black hole for a year,” Samardzija said at Salt River Fields after the Giants’ 8-1 win over the Diamondbacks in front of 8,015, which was interrupted by a comical seven-minute rain delay. “Then we’re back with Pablo and Hunter out there. It’s like the old times.”
The Giants hope these will look like the Giants of old rather than old Giants.
For one day, it was the former. Pence talked his way into the lineup and made an immediate (spring) impact, his third-inning single driving in a run and advancing his “soul brother” Sandoval to third.
Pence RBI single pic.twitter.com/gnb67i4njY
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) March 2, 2020
For Pence, this was the start of a spring camp that couldn’t have been predicted a year ago, when he entered an uncertain free agency ceremoniously, saying goodbye to the Giants and their fans, who had adored Pence since 2012.
He retooled his swing, was an All-Star with the Rangers and now is back, the Giants taking it slow with the lefty-killer whose back forced him to miss the end of last season.
Pence wanted to start his campaign earlier and had been pressing the Giants, whose training staff told him he should be able to play Monday. At a recent meeting the Giants told him Tuesday might be better. Pence looked at the schedule and fought it.
“It’s Diamondbacks, and the next potential start would be the Dodgers [on Wednesday],” Pence said after his three innings and two at-bats. “That was really that. … Happy I got to go out there.”
It was brief, but promising, which was the case with Sandoval, too, who went 1-for-2 with a walk. Samardzija, meanwhile, went the longest of any starter yet, tossing three innings that were only blemished by a slider that John Hicks sent 398 feet to left. It was the first earned run a Giants starter allowed, now having gone 21 1/3 innings with a 0.42 ERA.
“Just trying to get ahead in the count there. Other than that, thought everything was good,” said Samardzija, who touched 91 mph and allowed three hits and a walk in his second camp outing.
It felt about right on a day that a lot did. Pence did not want to reference specific dreams for this season — “the possibilities and probabilities are endless” — but those visions are slightly less murky with his and Sandoval looking spry, with Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt swiping bags Sunday, a day that Buster Posey homered.
There are not much expectations around the Giants, but camp may be showing they can expect to be slightly more fun than previously thought.
Quick hits
Mauricio Dubon left last season with momentum and has picked it right back up. He made a nice pick at second base and went 2-for-3 with a double. He’s now 7-for-14 in the Cactus League. He’s expected to move around, but it’s notable that second baseman Yolmer Sanchez is 0-for-11 thus far.
The Giants also have slow-played Zach Green, who was not a September call-up last season because of a hip issue. The third baseman looked healthy in launching an opposite-field home run off Edwin Jackson.
Green means GO(OODBYE, BALL!)
#SFGSpring pic.twitter.com/SMnLpbbrmv— SFGiants (@SFGiants) March 2, 2020
Solid relief work from Luis Madero, Tyler Rogers, Jarlin Garcia, Nick Vincent, Andrew Triggs and Matt Carasiti, none of whom surrendered a run or allowed multiple baserunners in helping the Giants improve to 6-4-1 in the Cactus League.
