Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Gabe Kapler was not sure if this meant something extra to Jason Vosler.
Sure, the rookie launched a home run against the team that drafted him, against the team that traded him before his major league debut because the Cubs were loaded at the corner-infield spots.
But of course Vosler was happy. He had just stroked his second major league home run.
“Vos is always upbeat,” the manager said. “He’s always smiling.”
Vosler is quickly getting used to a pinch-hitting role when needed, and he surely would not mind getting used to simply being a major leaguer, his fourth-inning laser beam to right off Chicago’s Keegan Thompson providing a cushion in an eventual 8-5 win over the Cubs at Oracle Park on Friday.
The same Cubs that drafted the infielder in 2014; the same Cubs that traded him to San Diego before the 2019 season because they had Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant on the corners. The Padres then had Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer blocking him, so he became a free agent the Giants quickly pounced on this offseason.
He has not gotten extended time — he was just recalled again Thursday — but he has made a few moments. His home run last week in Arizona was the go-ahead score, and he got to show off to his old pals that his power plays even on cool San Francisco nights.
He had been roommates with David Bote; he lived with Ian Happ coming up through the Chicago system. He spoke with relievers Dillon Maples and Tommy Nance during batting practice before the game. But he was not friendly to Thompson.
Down 1-2 in the count while pinch-hitting in the pitcher’s spot, Vosler saw a four-seamer that got too much of the plate. The lefty hitter turned on it and drove it an estimated 429 feet to center. LaMonte Wade Jr. was similarly mean, going back to back off Thompson on another night the Giants were without Brandon Belt and Mike Yastrzemski. The Giants’ replacements continue to do the job.
Giants go back to back. These guys are on ???
pic.twitter.com/UjRgCCYlCi— KNBR (@KNBR) June 5, 2021
Vosler’s job is especially difficult, a player riding the Sacramento to San Francisco elevator, and who has been asked to pinch-hit plenty, too. He has hung by others’ words — he shouted out veteran Justin Bour, who’s at Triple-A, as being particularly helpful — and said he has gotten much more comfortable in figuring out how to effectively pinch-hit.
It was a chilly night in the 50s, but the 27-year-old didn’t mind.
“The cages downstairs, they’re heated, it feels nice there, so you spend a lot of time there just staying loose,” said Vosler, who hit one of four blasts by Giants lefties.
Steven Duggar went yard, too, as did Alex Dickerson — the only one to enter the season with the big-league Giants.
“They’ve been incredible,” said Dickerson of the depth options who have been a lot more than that. “They’ve just been a huge boost for us.”
Dickerson on Brandon Crawford, who took away another hit from the Cubs with a diving play over the middle: “He’s an All-Star player, he always has been. He’s showing probably his best year ever this year.
“… It’s something we saw coming. We’re not particularly surprised about it. We saw a lot of good things last year, and this year he’s really honing it in to the point where he is just a force in the lineup. Just driving the ball to all fields, extremely far. The home run he hit [Thursday], you don’t see too many guys go out there. He’s probably one of the best shortstops in baseball, and that’s kind of what we have come to expect.”
Brandon Crawford is something else pic.twitter.com/GRbQkDbOMa
— KNBR (@KNBR) June 5, 2021
Kapler called it a “tough game to navigate.” The plan was to have Scott Kazmir go through Chicago’s lineup once, which he did, albeit while allowing two runs on a Bryant homer.
They pieced together the rest, using Dominic Leone and Conner Menez for two innings and Zack Littell, Jake McGee and Tyler Rogers for one.