Mike Yastrzemski hits HR in Giants' win after 'Papa Yaz' visit - ESPN

BOSTON — A visit from «Papa Yaz» before the game and a home run during it made for a memorable afternoon for San Francisco Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski.

The grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski hit a solo homer to right field — not far from where the former Boston outfielder's retired No. 8 is hanging from the facade — to help the Giants beat the Boston Red Sox 3-1 on Thursday.

«I'm looking around, and I have my greatest childhood memories here,» said Mike Yastrzemski, who also homered five years ago in his only other visit to Fenway Park, where his grandfather played 23 seasons.

«The first one was like, super crazy, where I actually couldn't believe that happened,» he said. «It was a little bit more normal this week, and I actually got to enjoy it while I was here rather than reflecting on it and being like, 'Man, that was really cool.'»

Yastrzemski, 33, has three home runs this season and 90 in his six-year career, all with the Giants. This one cleared the short wall in front of the Red Sox bullpen in the third inning of a scoreless, hitless game to give San Francisco a 1-0 lead.

Giants manager Bob Melvin thanked «the baseball gods.»

«Got a smile out of me,» said the former major league catcher, who spent one of his 10 big league seasons in Boston and was not quite 6 when Carl Yastrzemski won the AL Triple Crown and led the «Impossible Dream» Red Sox to the pennant in 1967. «I was just awestruck. So, I didn't have a ton to say to him.… There are some cool days in baseball, and I've had a lot of them. This was one of them.»

Mike Yastrzemski said he sees his grandfather a couple of times a year. He will sometimes ask the three-time batting champion and '67 AL MVP for hitting advice, but the man he calls «Papa