Just called up today, Ryder Jones hits one off the foul pole to give the Giants the lead 2-1 pic.twitter.com/MJnlWnVNYC
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 21, 2018
OAKLAND – The youth movement continues for the Giants.
In his first game of the season in the major leagues, 24-year-old third baseman Ryder Jones teed off on A’s starter Edwin Jackson, tearing a ball high off the right-field foul pole to give the Giants a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning.
Jones was called up earlier in the day to start at third base after first baseman Brandon Belt went on paternity leave in expectation for the birth of his second child. Bruce Bochy said before the game that he expects to return to the Giants tomorrow. Pablo Sandoval started at first base in Belt’s absence and Jones started at third.
While it was Jones’s first start and home-run in the majors this season, it is not his first time playing at the top level with the Giants. Jones batted .192 in 52 games last season for the Giants. Prior to his call-up, he was batting .299 with nine homers and 48 RBIs in 81 games in Sacramento this season.