An already bad night for the Giants became much worse in the fourth inning of an 8-1 loss to the Angels on Tuesday when right fielder Mike Yastrzemski exited with a right thumb sprain.
The team announced in the sixth inning that Yastrzemski’s X-rays were negative, but his absence coupled with a rough night for starter Alex Wood made a rare loss sting a bit more than it normally would for the first-place Giants.
Yastrzemski injured his thumb jumping into a padded portion of the right field wall at Oracle Park in an effort to catch a double hit by Angels catcher Max Stassi against Wood, who only completed 3 2/3 innings in his shortest outing of the year.
Yastrzemski made a leaping effort, but was unable to snag the ball in the air before bracing himself for a fall on the warning track with both of his hands outstretched.
The third-year outfielder immediately removed his glove from his right hand and grimaced in pain as he checked on his thumb. After returning to the dugout after the half inning ended, Yastrzemski met with Giants trainer Dave Groeschner and was pulled from the game.
Stassi’s double extended the Angels’ lead to 4-0 and after Wood was lifted in favor of reliever Matt Wisler, the Angels jumped out to an 8-0 lead following a bases-loaded walk from Kean Wong and a bases-clearing double hit by Anthony Rendon.
Wood was ultimately charged with seven earned runs, but his final line would have looked much better if not for the two-out mistakes made by Wisler.
Both pitchers had trouble commanding their sliders against an Angels lineup that looked helpless on Monday when the Giants regained control of the top spot in the NL West with a 6-1 win.
Wood navigated through a pair of scoreless innings before running into trouble in the third when he gave up a one-out single to Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney. That’s when Wood lost command of his breaking ball as the Giants lefty missed the strike zone with seven consecutive sliders, which contributed to back-to-back walks.
With two outs and a chance to get out of the inning having only allowed one run, Wood left a first-pitch sinker over the middle of the plate to Rendon, who picked up the first two of his five RBIs with a line drive into left-center field.
A loss on Tuesday didn’t cost the Giants their half-game lead in the NL West as the second-place Padres also fell to a red-hot Cubs team. Chicago arrives at Oracle Park Thursday for a four-game set, and it’s unclear whether Evan Longoria (left intercostal strain) or Yastrzemski will be available for the Giants.
Yastrzemski missed nearly two weeks of games between April 25-May 7 while recovering from a mild oblique strain that required him to be placed on the 10-day injured list.
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