SF Giants-Rangers: Ahmed debuts with a bang to notch first Cactus League win
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Bob Melvin admitted it Friday morning.
“Yes,” the San Francisco Giants manager said, “I’ve been a little cranky the past couple days.”
Even when the games don’t count, it turns out, winning cures all.
The manager was in the mood for jokes a few hours later after notching his first win as Giants manager, 11-5, over Bruce Bochy’s Rangers before a strong crowd of 8,933 on hand to see the former San Francisco skipper inducted to the Cactus League Hall of Fame.
It only took until the second weekend of Cactus League play.
“If we didn’t win today, part of our fundamentals tomorrow was going to be bringing guys off the field and shaking hands to remind them,” Melvin cracked after making it through his first high-five line of the spring.
The fans were also treated to a lineup of expected regulars for the Giants, which for Melvin was all part of the plan.
With Jung Hoo Lee leading off in center field, Jorge Soler in the cleanup spot and Kyle Harrison pitching to Patrick Bailey, the lineup resembled one Melvin may write on the second day of the season, after Logan Webb’s expected Opening Day start.
“It does, doesn’t it?” Melvin said beforehand. “There is a flavor of what could be a lineup.”
After a big day from Lee on Thursday, he was back in the lineup for a consecutive day for the first time this spring. But it was the Giants’ other free-agent addition, Jorge Soler, who kickstarted their three-run third inning with a single past shortstop Marcus Semien. Patrick Bailey followed with a walk, and J.D. Davis cleared the bases with his second home run of the spring, sending a 2-2 breaking ball onto the berm in left field.
In total, the Giants slugged four homers in their best scoring output by their starters this spring.
Luis Matos muscled one home run halfway up the berm in left field, then lined a second that was clocked at 109 mph off the bat, an exit velocity he never reached last season. He’s slugged three in five games to lead the team. And new shortstop Nick Ahmed put a ribbon on his first game by lining a three-run shot 400 feet to left.
“You want to get these guys together,” Melvin said. “So they kind of know how each other works in the lineup and who may steal here, who might need this. I think as many times as you can do that, especially when we’ve got some new people here.”
Ahmed debuts
The players occupying the bottom two spots of the Giants’ lineup, the only ones with their roster status in question, made a strong case for themselves.
With Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Slater, both sides of their projected platoon in right field, not yet cleared to play the field, it was Matos who rounded out the lineup in right field. One spot ahead of Matos, who’s fighting for the fifth outfield spot, was Ahmed, ostensibly in competition with top prospect Marco Luciano.
The duo combined for three home runs and drove in five of the Giants’ nine runs, and Ahmed quickly put his two-time Gold Glove-winning defense to work.
Playing his first game since being released by the D’backs last September, Ahmed ranged far to his right to keep a ground ball from Ezequiel Duran on the infield, throwing late — but on-line — to first, then was immediately challenged again by a slow chopper from catcher Sam Huff. He charged, cleanly picked the ball and this time threw in time to record the out at first.
“It was fun to get a lot of action out there,” said Ahmed, 34, a non-roster invitee. “I’m just coming in and competing, doing what I normally do. Ultimately it’s not my decision, but just going to prove that I can still play the game at a really high level.”
Harrison changes things up
Making his second start of the spring, Kyle Harrison fumed as he walked off the mound in the middle of the third inning.
“I was able to land my secondary (pitches) good, but my fastball took a step back,” said the 23-year-old lefty, who walked three batters and allowed a run on one hit over 2⅓ innings after tossing two shutout frames in his first Cactus League start. “This game will piss you off. It’s making me want to rip my hair out right now. … I was really, really pissed off that I couldn’t land some fastballs in the zone.”
In spite of that, Harrison did have a positive takeaway from his not-so-effectively wild outing.
“The good thing is I was able to land some other offspeeds,” Harrison said, referring specifically to his changeup, a potential third offering to pair with his fastball-slider tandem that he has long tinkered with and never perfected. “That was the weird thing. I was telling our pitching coach I’ve never had a day where my changeup’s been over the plate and my fastball hasn’t. It’s usually the other way around. So, back to the drawing board.”