SF Giants blown out by Yankees in Tony Vitello’s debut as manager

SAN FRANCISCO — Opening Night couldn’t have gone worse for the Giants.

Good thing there’s still Opening Day.

Tony Vitello will get another crack at his first major-league win on Friday after just about everything went wrong in a blowout loss to the Yankees to begin his tenure as manager.

Logan Webb turned in his worst of five season-opening starts, Max Fried shut down San Francisco’s best lineup in years and the Giants went out with a whimper in a 7-0 loss.

The margin matched the most lopsided season-opener in Giants history, while the Giants’ three hits were their fewest to begin a season since they also mustered only three on Opening Day in 1965.

“On a personal level but also the whole team, everybody would like a better result,” Vitello said. “A more competitive effort would’ve been better. They were able to be more aggressive on the bases. they had more opportunities and that allowed them to be the better base running team.”

Everything fell apart in the second inning as the Yankees brought nine men to the plate and opened an early 5-0 lead that would only grow from there.

Matt Chapman reached third base in the first inning, but Willy Adames failed to put the ball in play with one out, and the Giants didn’t advance another runner into scoring position until the ninth.

What it means

In a game that featured a number of firsts — the first ABS challenge, the first game aired on Netflix, the first time the reigning Gold Glove winners have squared off on the mound — the most consequential came in the loss column for the Giants’ first-year manager.

Vitello joked that he began the day 1-0 by passing up a plate of tempting pastries in the pregame coaches’ meeting. He ended it 0-1 as a big-league manager.

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J.T. Brubaker entered the game with the Giants trailing 7-0 after six and didn’t allow the deficit to get any wider, tossing two innings of scoreless relief in his San Francisco debut.

Keaton Winn was the first reliever called on by Vitello, after Webb was chased after only five innings, and it’s never a good sign when the first two pitchers out of the bullpen are long men.

With a scoreless ninth from Caleb Kilian, the Giants’ bullpen blanked the Yankees for the final four innings. The only problem is they were already trailing 7-0.

“The spot that Caleb Kilian earned to start the season with us is real,” Vitello said. “I thought he had the most positive inning of the night for us on the mound.”

Fried retired 16 of the last 18 batters he faced while breezing through 6 ⅓ shutout innings.

“Pitching-wise,” Vitello said, “it just so happened that their guy was better than our guy.”

Who’s not

After two dominant outings in the World Baseball Classic, Webb was more reminiscent of the pitcher who was tagged for six runs in his final outing of Cactus League play.

The seven runs (six earned) were tied for the most Webb has allowed in 88 career starts at Oracle Park and only three fewer than Webb’s previous four Opening Day opponents had combined to score against him (10). For the most part, Webb did his best to limit hard contact, but the Yankees gashed him for nine hits over five innings.

“They just started ambushing,” Webb said. “I threw all the pitches I wanted to throw, but not necessarily where I wanted to throw them.”

Aaron Judge was about the only Yankees hitter who didn’t find success against the Giants pitchers. He had a hat trick by the time Webb left the game and eventually wore a golden sombrero with four strikeouts in his first four trips to the plate.

Rafael Devers produced one of the Giants’ three hits, but Vitello felt more comfortable starting him at designated hitter and Casey Schmitt at first base with Devers still recovering from a hamstring injury that cost him a portion of camp.

Up next

After having the stage to themselves for Netflix’s Opening Night on Wednesday, the Giants have a day off to regroup before they host a traditional afternoon home opener on Friday.

LHP Robbie Ray, fresh off a strong spring, gets the ball against RHP Cam Schlitter.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m., with Hall of Fame announcer Jon Miller doing his best to follow up comedian Bert Kreischer as the Master of Ceremonies for the pregame festivities.

“I don’t have the exact answers yet,” Vitello said. “But maybe we look back as a group and the excitement of being the home team and the hype going into it, the new vibe and things like that maybe things were too emotional. Whatever it is, you certainly want to make adjustments.”