The Giants’ Eric Haase gestures as he reaches home plate after hitting a solo home run against the Dodgers on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
Giants starter Adrian Houser throws during the first inning of Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Houser allowed two runs and three hits in 5⅔ innings.
Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani homered Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, a semi-regular occurrence. The real power display, though, came from a somewhat unexpected source.
Eric Haase, the veteran backup catcher, rocketed two homers out to left, off Yoshinobu Yamamoto no less, and Harrison Bader added another in the San Francisco Giants’ 6-2 victory. The Giants have won three in a row for the first time since April 16-18, and they’ve taken four of the five games they’ve played against the Dodgers so far.
“I just think the chemistry in the room now, I think, is what we were searching for a lot of the season,” Haase said. “You can argue which pieces are to blame for that, but all we know is it’s nice to finally feel that shift of momentum and energy, and to do it in L.A. is obviously big for the boys. That’s what we’re going to try to keep building on.”
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It was the first time in Yamamoto’s big-league career he’s allowed three homers in a game. Haase said he was just trying to be on time, knowing Yamamoto has a good fastball.
“I hate to just really simplify it to that, but having a role where I could be playing every day (or) I don’t know if I’m playing for the next month, when I get my cleats in the dirt, I just try to help the team,” Haase said.
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Haase has hit as many as 22 homers in a season — he’s not your standard light-hitting backup catcher; he was the primary catcher in Detroit in 2021-22. Tuesday wasn’t a first — in fact, it was Haase’s seventh two-homer game.
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He almost hit a third homer in his third at-bat, knocking a drive 399 feet to the base of the wall in center with two men on in the seventh, but Andy Pages got it with a sprint to the warning track. Haase is the first Giants catcher to hit multiple homers in a game at Dodger Stadium, and he’s the first Giants player to do so at L.A. since infielder David Villar on Sept. 7, 2022.
Haase already was designated for assignment once this season and he’s looking at that possibility again when Daniel Susac returns from the injured list, though there is a chance San Francisco will go with three catchers, those two and Jesus Rodriguez. A three-catcher scheme would allow manager Tony Vitello to use Susac to pinch-hit or be the designated hitter without having to worry about an injury to the other catcher.
Vitello wouldn’t divulge specific plans but he mentioned several times that both Haase and Rodriguez can play in the outfield and Rodriguez in the infield, and he raved about the job Haase did catching Tuesday, too, saying, “I thought what he did behind the plate was incredible,” and adding later, “He really knows the game. He’s a good one to have in the trenches.”
The Giants traded starter Patrick Bailey on Saturday largely because of his minimal offense — Haase, with his experience behind the plate and now showing he still has good power, might be extra tempting to keep on the roster. He has played in 390 big-league games, while Susac and Rodriguez have combined for 17.
Vitello compared Haase to Tom Berenger’s grizzled catcher character in a classic baseball movie. “It’s ‘Major League’ all over again — maybe it’s ‘Major League 4,’ I don’t know how many of those things they made, they were getting pretty bad, so hopefully they stopped,” Vitello said. “I get Jake Taylor vibes from Haase, and those two (young) guys are sponges as far as what they’re looking to learn from their teammates and (nobody’s better to learn from) than the guy who’s actually doing what you’re doing.”
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The Giants were gaining lots of attention Tuesday not for their win in the series opener over the defending champs but for their outfielders’ celebration at the game’s conclusion: Bader, Jung Hoo Lee and Drew Gilbert converged for a group hug that turned a little more suggestive than your standard outfield jump-high-five and such.
Asked about the outfielders’ personalities, including Heliot Ramos, Vitello said, “Those four guys are all very different, and it’s kind of a fun collage of personalities and skill sets.”
The follow-up question was about the “physical collage” formed the previous night, a clear reference to the risque celebration.
“You can say that,” Vitello said with a chuckle. “No opinion or no comment on that, but I know what you’re saying.
“They’re a close-knit group. Let’s put it that way.”
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Bader, who came off the injured list on Monday, belted a two-out homer off Yamamoto in the sixth, and Haase made it back-to-backs. Gilbert contributed in slightly less powerful fashion, sending Ramos in from third with a squeeze bunt in the seventh, and Lee smacked a two-out, two-run double the same inning, hollered and gestured toward the Giants’ dugout in jubilation, an unusual show of emotion from him.
“The more and more you’re around him, you realize how competitive he is,” Vitello said of Lee. “Maybe he doesn’t verbalize it as much, and he’s not the quickest guy to slam his helmet or anything, but he is ultra competitive.”
At the end of Tuesday’s win, Ramos, Gilbert and Lee met in center, placed their hats over their hearts and bowed.
Asked if he’d requested a different celebration, Vitello laughed and said, “There was a meeting today,” then emphasized that was not the primary agenda topic. He hadn’t seen Tuesday’s version; told it was “a nice, respectful bow,” he said, “OK, good, I like that!”
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The Giants got another decent outing from Adrian Houser, who gave up one run in the first on Will Smith’s sacrifice fly — Lee made a nice over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track — and then the Ohtani homer in the third, Ohtani’s sixth of the season. Houser has a respectable 3.38 ERA over his past three starts after a 7.36 ERA in his first five.
Left-hander Sam Hentges, who came off the IL on Monday, was the Giants’ third reliever of the evening and, after retiring Mookie Betts to open the eighth, he walked Freddie Freeman, allowed Kyle Tucker a double and walked Smith before striking out Max Muncy looking. Caleb Kilian got Pages to fly out to end the inning.