Warriors: Team unveils SportingGreen new jersey for new home B2 SanFrancisco Chronicle and SFChronicle.com | Wednesday, September 18, 2019 | Section B xxxxx A’S 2, ROYALS 1 GIANTS 7, RED SOX 6 Olson’s big blast Boston blast for Yaz launches Oakland By Susan Slusser Normally, with Brett An­ derson buzzing along with only 66 pitches through five innings, he’d be back out for the sixth in a one­run game. Instead, the A’s signaled clear­ ly Tuesday that “piggyback­ ing” is the new opener. The previous Wednesday, Anderson went five innings before Jesús Luzardomade his big­league debut and An­ derson joked he was just Lu­ zardo’s “caddie.” In the A’s 2­1 victory Tues­ day, Anderson caddied for Oakland’s other top pitching prospect, A.J. Puk, who got the win thanks to a mammoth game­tying blast by Matt Ol­ son and a go­ahead double by Seth Brown in the seventh. With the win, the A’s re­ duced their magic number for a playoff spot to nine; they held a 1½ game lead temporar­ ily over Tampa Bay, which was still playing Tuesday night, and 2½ games over Cleveland. On a cold night at the Coli­ Kathryn Riley / Getty Images seum, Olson connected on a Left fielder Mike Yastrzemski returns to the Giants’ dugout after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning at Fenway Park. shot that hit above the suites in center field, a titanic drive that made Kansas City starter Outfielder hits storybook homer in Fenway Park debut Jorge Lopez flail in frustration and had Olson’s teammates By Henry Schulman beaming in the dugout at its improbability. Statcast mea­ BOSTON — Carl Yastrzemski, looking sured the blast at 450 feet, more like an average Joe in a red wind­ which seemed, if anything, breaker than a Hall of Famer, stood in stingy. front of the visiting dugout at Fenway A’scontinues on B7 Park on Tuesday and said he knew his grandson Mike had the goods to be a major­leaguer. Only one thing surprised the longtime 49ers’ Ford Red Sox left fielder, who said, “I didn’t expect all this power.” still dealing On cue, in his first game at the park, he cherished as a child, Mike Yastrzemski provided that rare moment that matches with knee the hype. He blasted a 96­mph fastball from Nathan Eovaldi over the center­field tendinitis fence for a you’ve­got­to­be­kidding home run in the fourth inning that even Red By Eric Branch Sox fans had to cheer. Yastrzemski’s 20th of the season gave The injury suffered by the the Giants a 5­1 lead, which they blew in a 49ers’ Pro Bowl offensive line­ marathon that ended in the 15th inning, man Sunday overshadowed the just after 1 a.m. EDT, with San Francisco injury suffered by their Pro winning 7­6. Bowl defensive lineman. Pinch­hitter Alex Dickerson hit a one­ Before left tackle Joe Staley out sacrifice fly to score Donovan Solano, exited late in the third quarter of Andy Kuno / San Francisco Giants who hit a bloop double and advanced on a a41­17 win in Cincinnati with a Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski walks with grandson Mike in front of the Green Trevor Kelley wild pitch. broken fibula, pass rusher Dee Monster before the Giants’ rookie made his debut at Fenway Park. Giantscontinues on B5 Ford was done after halftime because of knee tendinitis that sidelined him for 27 days this summer. On Monday, head coach Kyle Baseball’s blessing, curse: time, numbers Shanahan said Ford was “still hurting” and his ability to prac­ tice Wednesday would “defi­ For more than a century, ment expires after the 2021 factors irrelevant. With balls nitely be in question.” baseball took pride in its sin­ season), and plenty of opti­ flying out of the parks at a The question of Ford’s health gular blend of the pastoral BRUCE mism surrounded the reduc­ ridiculous rate, innings have is significant: In March, the and the scientific. Time never JENKINS tion of mound visits, the in­ grown longer and the amount 49ers acquired him to bolster seemed to matter, and a very tentional walk without pitch­ of pitching changes has be­ their feeble pass rush by trading traditional set of numbers es, and reminders from um­ come over­the­top intolerable. asecond­round pick to Kansas bound the generations. pires to keep hitters and Nobody’s admitting to spe­ City and signing Ford to a five­ It’s a shame those days are pitchers from wasting time. cifics on why the ball is trav­ year deal worth a maximum of gone. Major League Baseball Behold the results: eling so much farther this 49erscontinues on B3 has completely botched its er Rob Manfred seemed ob­ Through Sunday, the average year, but it’s undeniable. attempt to shorten the games, sessed with game times. Tele­ MLB game time was 3:09. Couldn’t be more obvious, and the landscape of statistics vision’s between­inning Longest in history when com­ especially in the minors, in 1 Help wanted: 49ers bring in is littered with confusion and breaks were shortened, sup­ pared to season­ending fig­ whichTriple­A teams aban­ tackle Sam Young for a look. B3 distrust. port gathered behind pitch ures. doned balls manufactured in 1 Raiders: Without Antonio If you recall the spring clocks (probably not until the To great extent, the juiced China and switched to the Brown, receivers need help. B3 training climate, Commission­ collective bargaining agree­ ball has rendered all other Jenkins continues on B7 stanford football vs. #16 oregon saturday, september 21 » 4 pm » stanford stadium gostanford.com/tickets XXXXX SFChronicle.com | Wednesday, September 18, 2019 | B5 ON Wednesday Thursday Friday Online GIANTS DECK at Red Sox, 4:10 p.m. NBCSBA at Red Sox, 10:05 a.m. NBCSBA at Braves, 4:20 p.m. NBCSBA For additional coverage, go to Samardzija (10-12) vs. Chacín (3-0) Bumgarner (9-8) vs. Rodriguez (17-6) Beede (5-9) vs. Foltynewicz (7-5) www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giants Yastrzemski has blast in his Boston debut Giantsfrom page B1 The Giants set a franchise record by using 13 pitchers. The last was Dereck Rodri­ guez, who pitched two innings for the win. Yastrzemski went 2­for­7 with a walk in a game that featured two blown Giants leads. They scored in the 13th when Brandon Crawford dou­ bled home Kevin Pillar, but Kyle Barraclough, the Giants’ fourth pitcher in the inning, walked home the tying run. For the first time since 1983, the last of Carl Yastrzemski’s 23 seasons as Boston’s left fielder, the Fenway Yaz homer counter ticked up. It now reads 238: 237 for Carl, one for Mike. It was not entirely clear whether Carl saw the homer. He spent time with Mike be­ fore batting practice, greeting his grandson with a hug be­ fore they recorded a segment for MLB Network, but the 80­year­old supposedly told some folks he was going home before the game, which he often does after a pregame appearance. He will return Wednesday to toss the ceremonial first pitch and supposedly will stay for the game. Manager Bruce Bochy, an Charles Krupa / Associated Press old softie, made sure to start The Giants’ Mike Yastrzemski watches the flight of his solo home run in the fourth inning against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Yastrzemski in left field and bat him leadoff. Bradley Jr. solo homer in the games,” he said. The rookie got a standing fifth, then was pulled after “Those things overwhelm ovation from the crowd as he Sam Travis’ leadoff triple in you more than actually play­ stepped in for his first at­bat. the sixth. Doubles by Mitch ing here. Playing here is cool, He knew it was coming be­ Moreland and Chrstian Vaz­ as part of my job, something cause he understands what his quez against Andrew Suarez, I’ve always wanted to do, so name means in this part of the and a Vogt passed ball, tied that doesn’t really overwhelm country. He gave some the game 5­5. me. But being able to do it in a thought to how he would treat The pregame scene was setting where I have so many it. staged, though still cool: the fond memories with friends “It’ll be cool,” he said. “I two Yastrzemskis walking and family, and then having don’t get wrapped up in mo­ slowly together toward the them able to be here, that’s ments very easily. I’ve trained Monster, talking about this or special.” my whole life to block out that. situations, crowd noise and Moments before, Carl was Henry Schulman is a San stuff like that. I think tonight I asked what it will mean to see Francisco Chronicle staff writer. need to take a step back and his grandson play at Fenway, Email: hschulman@ get lost in one of the moments as he did for 23 seasons. sfchronicle.com Twitter: and let me appreciate that and “I think the only way I can @hankschulman experience it. compare it to anything would Henry Schulman / The Chronicle “Then we can get back to be if I compared it to the 1967 Yastrzemski, with grandfather and Red Sox great Carl, speak business and play baseball.” season,” he said. “That’s what before talking with MLB Network’s Peter Gammons (center). Giants 7, Boston 6 (15 inn.) Initially, business was bad.