Yankees’ Josh Donaldson silences boos with home run

NEW YORK — Up until the eighth inning on Saturday, Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson had been the Bringer of Boos, picking up where he left off during his disappointing debut season in pinstripes a year ago.

He struck out twice in his first three at-bats, his second game in a row with a pair of strikeouts and multiple unproductive plate appearances — in this case, with runners in scoring position — that were hard to watch.

The forecast was a third strikeout or more weak contact for the third baseman as he stepped up to the plate in the eighth, but as an ominous cloud began to roll in from beyond left field at Yankee Stadium, with heavy rain on the way, Donaldson broke through.

Donaldson pounced on a 1-0 cutter on the inside corner from Giants left-hander Taylor Rogers, tucking a towering solo home run inside the foul pole down the left-field line.

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His first home run of the young season cut the Yankees’ deficit to one. That was before closer Clay Holmes allowed two more runs to score in the top half of the ninth inning, part of a bullpen breakdown that led to the Yankees’ 7-5 loss, their first of the season.

The fans at Yankee Stadium won’t forgive Donaldson just yet. He’s got a long way to go before he’s consistently hearing cheers during lineup introductions in the Bronx. Donaldson had the worst offensive season of his entire big-league career in 2022, hitting .222 with 15 home runs and 148 strikeouts in 132 games. He was elite at the hot corner defensively, but with the size of his contract, the glut of infielders on this big-league roster and the deterioration of his production at the plate, it’s no wonder the Yankees tried to trade the former Most Valuable Player Award winner this past winter.

Watching his home run on Saturday was all Yankees manager Aaron Boone needed to see from the aging slugger. He’s been an advocate of Donaldson since the beginning, a voice that beat the bounce-back-season drum throughout spring training.

“That’s where he’s at,” Boone said after the loss. “You want him to get rolling here and just kind of take off, that’s what’s in there. The at-bat before too, after getting rung up on a bad one, to go out there and get into one the next time was good. So, yeah, he’s in a good place in the box. Now it’s just about getting that traction.”

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Boone is referring to Donaldson’s second strikeout of the night, a blatant miss from home plate umpire Andy Fletcher on a Jake Junis slider that crossed the plate inches off the outside corner in the fifth. Donaldson has contested several calls over the first two games of the regular season. He had a legitimate gripe on that one.

“I think he bounced back well for the at-bats before, that’s what it’s about,” said right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who also hit his first homer of the year on Saturday. “He’s a guy that can take over a game with one swing and as long as he has an at-bat available, always keep pushing to make sure he could help us win.”