The Bronx hadn’t been kind to Brian McCann during his first week in his new home.
Before Saturday’s 7-4 win over the Red Sox, the new Yankees catcher had been 1-for-16 on the homestand and had yet to hit a home run since signing a five-year, $85 million deal in the offseason.
One of the reasons the Yankees went after McCann so strongly in the offseason was the thought of the lefty slugger taking advantage of the short right field porch, making his slow start all the more confounding.
Two homers on Saturday showed the catcher can take advantage of his surroundings.
Afterward, McCann insisted his sluggish start hadn’t affected him and he was not worried about falling victim to chasing easy home runs, as others have done after seeing the right-field fence just 314 feet away down the line.
“I don’t think about it,” McCann said. “If you miss a ball and it goes out, it’s just a positive.”
Neither of his homers off Boston starter John Lackey was cheap, and McCann said his approach hasn’t changed.
“I don’t get too deep,” McCann said. “I’m going to hit the same way I’ve hit.”
He did acknowledge the proximity of the fence is hard to ignore, but added: “It’s just baseball. If you start thinking that, you’re not going to have good at-bats.”
Throughout his rough first 10 games with the Yankees, McCann and hitting coach Kevin Long have said they have been pleased with the catcher’s swing. Saturday, though, was the first day he provided tangible results.
It came at a good time, since the Yankees’ offense hasn’t truly clicked yet this season despite the additions of Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and McCann. The Yankees hit five homers in Saturday’s win.
Shawn Kelley, who earned his second save, is confident there will be many more days ahead like Saturday.
“That’s what this team is capable of,” Kelley said. “I expect it every day, five or six homers. Hopefully that’s a trend that we start to set.”
Kelley laughed, but it seemed as if the Yankees (6-6) needed at least that much power to get back to .500.
Despite taking Lackey deep four times, the Yankees found themselves in some trouble in the top of the seventh.
Hiroki Kuroda (2-1) had difficulty with his breaking balls throughout his 6 ¹/₃ innings. He gave up a two-run shot to A.J. Pierzynski in the second after Beltran gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead with a homer of his own, walked a pair of batters and after Matt Thornton came in to get David Ortiz looking, he surrendered a two-run single to Mike Carp.
But with the Red Sox trailing 6-4, Carp tried to steal second and was thrown out easily by McCann to end the threat.
Boston manager John Farrell said they anticipated a breaking ball from Dellin Betances, which is why Carp was sent.
It was a curious decision, especially with the ball flying out to right, as Alfonso Soriano found when his fly ball carried over the fence in right-center for his third of the year and a 4-2 lead in the fourth.
The rest of the bullpen pitched well, as Adam Warren struck out two in a perfect eighth and Kelley retired all three batters he faced, bouncing back from his rough outing against Baltimore.
McCann was confident this day would come.
“I was seeing the ball pretty well to be hitting in the .100s,” McCann said. “If it wasn’t so early in the season, it wouldn’t be that big a deal… When it’s early, everything is magnified.”
Welcome to New York.