SAN FRANCISCO – Jae-gyun Hwang understands the finer points of cultural diplomacy. He also understands how to impact a baseball.
He displayed both skills almost simultaneously Wednesday afternoon in a major league debut that neither he nor the Giants will soon forget. Hwang crushed a home run for his first big league hit, and as he had pledged, he refrained from the ostentatious bat flip that made him a fan favorite during a career in Korea that included six All-Star appearances.
Instead, he held a high pose and dropped his bat like a mic.
Hwang combined style with substance. His shot in the sixth inning snapped a tie, and the Giants’ depleted bullpen hung on for a 5-3 victory to finish off a three-game sweep over the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park.
The Giants have won three consecutive games for the first time since May 12-16. They also finally won a series in June, which somehow proved even more cruel and unusual than their struggles in April and May. They hadn’t swept a series all season.
Afterwards, the players gave Hwang a different sort of cultural experience: his first beer shower.
“There is not such a thing in Korea,” said Hwang, through interpreter Mark Kim. “But I have gotten to know that there is such a thing, just a few moments ago. I was actually more surprised by how cold the beer was.”
It was a particularly raucous version, judging by the muffled screams and shouts that traveled through the clubhouse walls and into Bruce Bochy’s interview room.
“They were so excited for him and happy,” Bochy said. “He’s given up baseball in Korea to be here. He reaches his dream, playing here, and not only that but he hits a huge home run. These are moments you love. You have tough times in this game, but you have special moments like these you try to savor.
“He’s very popular in that clubhouse. That’s why you heard what you heard. He’s going to have a nice flight to Pittsburgh, trust me.”
Hwang traveled from El Paso on Tuesday and said he walked into the ballpark at almost the exact instance that Denard Span hit the single that sent the Giants to a 14-inning victory.
He continued to bring good vibes while fulfilling his childhood dream – one that he turned down more lucrative contract offers from Lotte Giants in Korea to pursue.
“The only thing I imagined was setting my feet on the field and in the grass at AT&T Park,” Hwang said. “I never even dreamed of hitting a home run here. … I was nervous since last night. But as every inning passed by, I felt like I was zoned into the game more and more.”
Hwang grounded out in each of his first two at-bats but drove in a run. The Giants took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when Nick Hundley hit a two-run homer off the ambulance parked beyond the left field corner.
But the Rockies tied it in the sixth when Ty Blach’s throwing error after fielding a bunt allowed Pat Valaika to advance all the way to third base. Mike Tauchmann’s first big league hit sent Valaika to the plate.
Hwang batted with two out in the sixth, and he turned on a 2-0 pitch from left-hander Kyle Freeland. The sound alone made it a no-doubt home run. Hwang watched it and held his bat aloft with his left hand, then let it drop as he started his trot.
“When it comes to bat flips, you don’t really plan it, either,” Hwang said. “I don’t even know what I was thinking at the time. It just happened. Even right now, I can’t remember what I was thinking at that moment.”
Said Bochy: “I think he started to (flip it) and he thought, `Ah, I’d better not.’ But you know what? I want these guys to be who they are.”
There was no subtlety when he returned to a raucous Giants dugout. After emerging from the human tunnel of helmet slaps, he leaned against the rail between coach Bill Hayes and Buster Posey, with a foggy smile on his face.
He became the Giants’ 17th player to hit a home run for his first hit in his first big league game. It could not have come at a better time.
“They were all very excited and happy for me,” said Hwang, “and I could feel that by the way they were hitting me on the back of my helmet.”
The home run made a winner of Blach, a former minor league Gold Glove winner who made two uncharacteristic errors – including one that could have ruined his afternoon.
The Rockies led 2-0 before Blach could record an out in the first inning. Blach made a throwing error that allowed Charlie Blackmon to reach, then Ian Desmond singled and stole second base. Nolan Arenado’s single scored them both.
Blach was coming off an ugly loss to the Mets in which he allowed 11 hits and recorded just nine outs. He didn’t have his best command against the Rockies, either. But he made pitches in traffic to escape jams in 6 1/3 innings, and the Rockies are suddenly not hitting mistakes while losing eight consecutive games.
The Giants added a run in the eighth when Gorkys Hernandez walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a fielder’s choice.
The Giants’ flagging bullpen was without Mark Melancon, who is back on the disabled list because of a stubborn pronator strain in his elbow. Sam Dyson, who is expected to be the interim closer, also was limited because he threw two shutout innings in Tuesday’s 14-inning victory.
But George Kontos got three outs in the seventh and eighth, Steven Okert retired two hitters in the eighth and two more in the ninth, and Hunter Strickland recorded the one-out save.
So what now? With starting third baseman Eduardo Nuñez poised to come off the disabled list during the series in Pittsburgh that begins on Friday, Hwang is likely to find himself in a reserve role. But Bochy left open the possibility that Nuñez could move to left field on a temporary basis, especially with Austin Slater still bothered by a sore hip flexor and rookie Ryder Jones still looking for his first hit in 16 at-bats.
For now, Hwang has a souvenir home run ball – he traded a signed jersey for it – as proof of his deed. And he’ll have some time at 30,000 feet to become grounded in the reality that he achieved his dream.
“Unbelievable,” he said, in English.
