SAN FRANCISCO — Aaron Decide walked to the plate for his first at-bat at Oracle Park on Friday evening and was met with a heavy dose of boos.
By the tip of the evening, he had perfected the position of the villain.
Enjoying the group he grew up rooting for, and the one he left on the altar in free company to stay in pinstripes, Decide lived up to date by delivering a pair of residence runs to elevate the Yankees to a 6-2 win over the Giants in entrance of 35,018 largely agitated followers.
Decide crushed a three-run shot to left area within the third inning to present the Yankees (40-19) a 3-1 lead after which prolonged it to 4-1 within the sixth by drilling a 426-foot blast to middle.
McCovey Cove was spared a splash by Decide, not less than within the first recreation of the sequence.
The 2 residence runs, each off Giants right-gander Jordan Hicks, gave Decide the foremost league lead alone with 20 on the season.
A ridiculous 14 of these got here within the month of Might as Decide awoke from a quiet April and wreaked havoc on opposing pitchers.
He additionally broke away from a tie with Lou Gehrig and have become the primary Yankee to hit 14 residence runs and 12 doubles in a single calendar month.
After Decide’s second residence run of the evening, the Yankees followers in attendance showered him with “MVP” chants, which additionally drew boos from the house crowd.
Marcus Stroman made positive Decide’s newest feats got here in a win as he was sharp and environment friendly throughout 7 ¹/₃ innings to maintain the Giants (29-29) at bay.
It marked the second time in three begins Stroman has recorded an out within the eighth inning, reducing his ERA to 2.73 within the course of.
Earlier than the sport, after reliving the “uneasy” days main as much as Decide lastly re-signing with the Yankees in December 2022, supervisor Aaron Boone was not sure of what the gang response is perhaps for his captain.
“Look, most superstars, there’s a stage of a combined response on a regular basis, and that’s definitely the case once we go locations,” Boone stated. “So I’m positive there’ll be somewhat little bit of that, however he’s additionally such a beloved determine for being one of many faces of the game that it’s form of onerous to dislike Aaron.”
Nearly all of Giants followers in attendance on Friday evening didn’t share the identical sentiment, nonetheless not over Decide — a local of Linden, Calif. — passing up an opportunity to return residence.
The Yankees’ West Coast journey started in related vogue final weekend in San Diego, when Juan Soto heard extra boos than cheers from the stadium he known as residence the final season and a half earlier than the Padres traded him.
And naturally, Soto answered by crushing a house run in a Yankees win.
Decide took that to a different stage on Friday.
The Giants took the lead first off Stroman within the backside of the second inning due to a well-placed pop up and a defensive miscue from Gleyber Torres.
Matt Chapman led off by skying a ball into no-man’s land down the left-field line, falling for a single. Patrick Bailey got here up subsequent and roped a floor ball to Torres, who took a step to his left, reached out and noticed the ball go below his glove.
The play, which was inexplicably dominated a single and never an error, put runners on the corners.
Jorge Soler then cashed in with a sacrifice fly that scored Chapman.
After Decide’s residence run within the sixth inning, the Yankees added a pair of insurance coverage runs with some hustle.
Torres singled to finish Hicks’ evening and Anthony Rizzo adopted with a double off the right-field brick wall towards left-hander Taylor Rogers.
Each got here in to attain on the primary pitch to Austin Wells, which went to the backstop on a handed ball.
Catcher Patrick Bailey’s throw to Rogers on the plate was already too late to get Torres, however the ball squirted away and Rizzo raced residence from third to make it 6-1.
