Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
SAN DIEGO — Mike Yastrzemski offered no excuses, but it has been clear that his hand has been bothering him, which led to a late scratch Monday.
The Giants took the right fielder out of the lineup for the first game at Petco Park, one domino falling and several getting touched. Austin Slater moved from center to right, Mauricio Dubon moved from shortstop to center, and Brandon Crawford did not get a day off against a lefty and instead got the start against Adrian Morejon.
The new lineup behind Anthony DeSclafani:
1. Austin Slater, RF
2. Donovan Solano, 2B
3. Wilmer Flores, 1B
4. Evan Longoria, 3B
5. Darin Ruf, LF
6. Buster Posey, C
7. Mauricio Dubon, CF
8. Brandon Crawford, SS
9. Anthony DeSclafani, RHP
Yastrzemski went 1-for-13 with six strikeouts in Seattle, in a series that started three days after his left hand was drilled by a Sean Manaea offering to conclude spring training. Yastrzemski had to get X-rays, which were negative, and while he did not want to admit the hit-by-pitch had anything to do with his start, it’s easy to imagine at the very least, his timing was thrown off.
“There’s no excuse,” Yastrzemski said Saturday. “I just stunk this weekend.”
Notably, the Giants said Yastrzemski is available off the bench.
Alex Dickerson will be playing in front of his six-month-old son, Levi, for the first time, fans not allowed in parks last year and Dickerson’s family located nearby San Diego.
“He went to spring training games, and we haven’t been able to really hammer the fact that those games aren’t really important and this one is. So I don’t think he’ll notice the difference,” Dickerson said before the game. “But he will be in the stands, I’m extremely excited about that.”
It was Petco Park at which Dickerson tested positive for the coronavirus last year, leading to two games getting canceled, and his name being smeared by a report he had violated the protocols. He had not, and the test was found to be a false positive.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say there wasn’t some PTSD as I was spitting into that tube today. I might screw this one up, too,” Dickerson said. “But yeah, that was a crazy, awful time for me and my family.”
He said he recently got a first dose of the vaccine and is eager for restrictions to be relaxed, although the Giants would need to get up to 85 percent vaccinated for that to happen. With that 85 percent threshold, team personnel with the vaccine can have vaccinated family stay with them on the road. Dickerson will not be able to stay with his wife in this series.
