Casey Schmitt was called up Tuesday primarily for his defensive ability and definitely not his power. He had a homer at Triple-A Sacramento that season before landing in the San Francisco Giants’ lineup against the Nationals.
In his second big league at-bat, the 24-year-old hit a Patrick Corbin sinker to left center, just above the 399-foot sign as his burly family section jumped and danced and screamed. He also scored in the singles in the Giants’ 4-1 win over Washington and played well at the shortstop. “He was definitely a spark,” said starter Logan Webb. “Having him here is great – I told him before the game not to screw it up and he didn’t screw it up.”
“We’re very happy for him,” said Dan Schmitt, Casey’s father. “He’s been playing since he was 3 and we’ve always seen it was his dream.”
So many friends, family and neighbors were traveling from San Diego, Dan Schmitt said they rode in the back of the plane to SFO. Among those traveling with him: Schmitt’s 84-year-old grandmother Sabina Barrios, who had not left the house for three years since the pandemic began.
“She hadn’t seen me play in person for a while, but she told me a long time ago that she wouldn’t miss it, and she didn’t,” Schmitt said. “I’m really excited that she was here.”
“Casey called her and asked her to come in,” said Tina Schmitt, Casey’s mom. “And she’s here! When he told her he’d been promoted, she said, ‘Absolutely, I’ll be there.’ It’s just so special – we found out at 10:30pm last night and in less than 24 hours this large community of friends are here, they’ve flown in from all over. It is wonderful.”
Schmitt is the youngest player to homer on his big league debut with the Giants since 22-year-old Will Clark did it in 1986. Schmitt also scored a base hit in his third at-bat of the night against Corbin.
He also got the ball back from his first homer, which was personally delivered by 10-year-old Bernal Heights’ Eli Simon, who got a bat and a signed ball in return. “That was cool,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt also got the traditional dousing of various drinks and condiments, but kept his eyes closed and, unlike Blake Sabol, was smart enough to keep his mouth closed, but he still wiped away toothpaste before beginning his interviews.
Teammates usually describe Schmitt’s personality as funny and goofy, and some of that was shown on Tuesday. “My favorite moment was after he hit his homer and he went back on defense, they honored him on the big screen and he gave an awkward little gossip for himself,” said manager Gabe Kapler. “That was classic Casey.”
| Washington | san francisco | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| away | R | H | Bi | away | R | H | Bi | ||||
| buzz | 36 | 1 | 10 | 1 | buzz | 35 | 4 | 10 | 4 | ||
| Thomas rf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | slate running | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Garcia 2b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Conforto ph-rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Ruiz c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Street 2b | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Menes d | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Haniger rf-lf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| candlestick 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Davis 3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Blacksmith 1b | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | flowers 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| call cf | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Wade Jr. pr-1b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Abrams SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Villar ie | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| alu-lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Pederson Ph.D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Schmitt ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| beard c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||
| clever cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Washington | 000 | 001 | 000 | — | 1 |
| san francisco | 200 | 100 | 10x | — | 4 |
E_Abrams (8), Davis (2). DP_Washington 0, San Francisco 1. LOB_Washington 10, San Francisco 10. 2B_Meneses (7), Haniger (2). HR_Schmitt (1). SB_Estrada (10).
| 6 | 8th | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
WP_Corbin.
Referee_Home, Chris Segal; First Brian O’Nora; Second, Pat Hoberg; Third, Emil Jimenez.
T_2:22. A_22.028 (41.915).
See more
“I didn’t know what to do,” Schmitt said, adding he knew the camera was on him. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to just stand here,’ so I clapped a few times.”
Schmitt’s glove is his calling card and he started a nice double play with an underhand flip to Thairo Estrada to help Webb get out of a two-on-no-out jam in the third. Webb then got a grounder to end the inning.
Webb worked with men on base most of the night but escaped a lot of damage – including in the second when with men on the corners and no outs he knocked out the next three batters. The Nationals went 1-to-11 with runners in goal position against him, and although Webb gave up nine hits, he allowed just one run and made it through seven innings, walking one and knocking out seven. He faced 30 batters and threw 26 first pitch strikes.
The Giants won just once in Webb’s first six starts but have won each of the last two, with Webb allowing three runs over 14⅔ innings and K-ing 12.
Mitch Haniger delivered the first big hit, with a two-run double against Corbin in the first, a ball leaving the bat at 107.6 mph, and he too had a two-hit game. JD Davis finished seventh in a run with a single.
San Francisco was closing in on becoming the first major league team in history with 11,500 wins. Tuesday night’s win brought the franchise total to 11,498. The Dodgers are second with 11,385 wins.
Contact Susan Slusser: sslusser@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @susanslusser
