Tony Vitello finally received his first glimpse of managing an MLB team on Wednesday in the Giants’ 7-0 shutout loss to the visiting New York Yankees.
While there were plenty of negatives from San Francisco throughout the game, the new Giants manager shared a few bright spots he took away from the Opening Night game.
“I think the spot that Caleb Kilian earned to start the season with us is real,” Vitello told reporters following the game.
“I thought he had the most positive inning of the night for us on the mound. Now, it’s quirky how it worked out for [Logan Webb] because a couple of those innings, he absolutely rolled. And then again, they seem to have the formula for stacking hits tonight. So that and just getting our group out there.”
Newly acquired relief pitcher Kilian had an efficient ninth inning in which he put out Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger and struck out Ben Rice in only 10 pitches thrown.
Despite allowing seven total runs, Webb still managed to throw seven strikeouts and not allow a single home run in 86 pitches in five innings against a potent Yankees lineup.
“I don’t have the exact answer yet,” Vitello added. “You’re always diagnosing stuff, but maybe we look back as a group and the excitement of being the home team and the hype going into it and kind of a new vibe and things like that. Maybe things were too emotional or too whatever.
“Whatever it is, you certainly want to make adjustments because we want to perform better and make it a more competitive situation, no matter what night it is or who the opponent is.”
Offensively, the Giants only recorded three hits in 31 at-bats, which made it challenging to recover from the team’s five-run deficit early on in the second inning.
San Francisco will have an opportunity to bounce back in its second game of its Opening Series against the Yankees on Friday, with lefty Robbie Ray slated to start for the Orange and Black and right-handed pitcher Cam Schlittler starting for New York.
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