WASHINGTON — Serving in the same platoon role as he has for the past two seasons, Austin Slater simply hasn’t gotten many opportunities as the Giants faced a stretch of seven straight right-handed starters to begin this road trip.
The platoon role took some adjustment for Slater, a former prospect who was used to regular opportunities against pitchers of any handedness. He called last season — his first taking more at-bats against lefties than righties — a learning experience. One thing he picked up: stay ready for the next southpaw. So he had ample time to prepare for the Giants’ series opener Friday night against Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin.
And, boy, Slater was ready for the middle-in sinker he got from Corbin with two on, one out in the second inning. Slater put the pitch in the right-field seats, 394 feet away, as if to answer any doubts about the .385 OPS he carried in to Friday night’s 7-1 win.
Before the game, Slater used good, ol’ English to explain why he wasn’t concerned about his ice-cold start to season.
“There’s been a little lull, but it’s a long season,” Slater said. “This was my role last year. Pretty prepared. Just status quo. There’s always points in the season where you go through stretches like this in the role that I’m in. I felt like last year was a learning experience when it came to that.”
It had been more than a week since Slater’s last start, last Wednesday in the finale of the Giants’ season-opening homestand, and his batting average was dangerously close to dropping below .100. But with a 2 for 5, three-RBI performance Wednesday, he’s closer to eclipsing the Mendoza line (now batting .167) than he is falling below whatever you’d like to term a success rate of 1 in 10.
Slater’s shot to right was part of a seven-run explosion in the second inning, which knocked Corbin out of the game to a chorus of boos from the 23,751 fans at Nationals Park (and raised his ERA to 11.20 in the fourth year of a six-year, $160 million contract).
The half inning alone lasted 20 minutes. The Giants brought 11 men to the plate, including twice for Brandon Crawford, who doubled both times. The second of his two two-baggers was ripped into the left-center field gap and cleared the bases for three RBIs, putting a bow on the Giants’ biggest scoring inning of the season (bringing one more batter to the plate and scoring one more run than they did against Yu Darvish in the first inning back on April 12).
That was ample support for Sam Long, who tossed two shutout innings in a spot start, and Jakob Junis, who tossed five shutout innings in his Giants debut after being called up from Triple-A Sacramento earlier in the day.
Slater hasn’t lacked opportunities, appearing in 10 of the Giants’ 13 games entering Friday, but most hitters will admit coming in cold as a pinch-hitter or defensive replacement in the middle innings is a tougher task than a starting assignment.
Not Slater.
“I think (Giants manager Gabe Kapler has) done a pretty good job getting me into a lot of games this year,” Slater said. “It’s not like I haven’t seen pitching in a few weeks.”
There were only two stretches last season that Slater went as long without starting a game as he had here on this current trip. From June 3 to June 14, Slater went 11 games without a start but appeared in them all, with numbers to match his current cold snap (2 for 14, .286 OPS). But a month earlier, from May 8 to May 14, Slater also went seven games without making a start and instead of going 1 for 9 (.111) — his numbers for the past seven games — he was 4 for 12 (.333) with a home run.
There’s a reason the current regime thought they could exploit Slater as exclusively a lefty-masher: his career OPS against southpaws (.829) is almost 200 points higher than it is against right-handers (.638). Only problem is nearly three-quarters of MLB pitchers are right handed.
All that’s to say, his role isn’t changing anytime soon.
“None of the situations are set up perfectly,” Kapler said. “We have a certain mount of ability to help get people into a rhythm and put them in the optimal positions to succeed. Then we trust that our players are equipped to handle stretches where they’re not in the batter’s box consistently.
“Ask Austin Slater about the last couple of years. He’s gone through these stretches before and been excellent in them, even in less than optimal circumstances. Has it been difficult to get in a rhythm? Maybe. I don’t think Austin Slater is looking for any sympathy.”
One thing that was never in question was Slater’s defense, which he flashed even before he snapped his cold-spell at the plate.
With the Nationals mounting a two-out rally in the first inning, with runners on second and third, catcher Keibert Ruiz lifted a looping pop up that was trailing away from Slater as he charged from his position in left field. If it hit the grass, the Nationals were certain to score two runs. But Slater sprinted in — reaching a top speed of 30.5 feet per second, per Statcast, the fastest sprint speed by a Giants player this season — and splayed out to snag the ball and end the inning.
