Former SF Giants pitcher Sergio Romo showed his respect and affection for Giants President and CEO Larry Baer as well as for team mascot Lou Seal as he walked onto the field on Friday June 25 at the Battle of the Bay Series game opener - even as he prepared to play for local rivals the Oakland A's. Romo took a few minutes before heading to the A's dugout to briefly converse with Baer and to give his former boss a warm hug, then went on to enjoy some light banter and a hug from Lou Seals at the homestead game at Oracle Park that highlighted the Giants' Welcome Home Weekend event.
The 38-year-old Mexican-American played nine successful seasons with the Giants after being drafted in 2005, enjoying three World Series victories during that period. During his run with the Giants, Romo had a 2.58 ERA over 515 appearances, and a 3.09 ERA over the course of 23 1/3 postseason innings. After a few stints with various MLB teams, Romo was drafted by the A's in the current postseason and so far has an ERA of 5.04 over the course of 25 innings in 2021.
The Bay Bridge Series Opener marked the re-opening of Oracle Park at full capacity after the Giants played for over a year at limited capacity due to safety restrictions imposed by the San Francisco Health Department in response to the Covid pandemic. These restrictions limited stadium capacity to 9,000 fans and imposed rigid seating requirements to maintain social distance. The Health Department finally gave local teams the green light to re-open at full capacity as of June 15, 2021, and the Giants used the Bay Bridge Series opener to celebrate the occasion with its Welcome Home Weekend event, which included post-game fireworks following Friday night's game.
"We have been working closely with the San Francisco Department of Health to safely implement these reopening guidelines at Oracle Park and we are excited to welcome even more fans to Oracle Park," stated Baer during the preparation of the event.
A 2-0 victory for the Giants further fueled the celebratory spirit at Oracle Park, where an enthusiastic crowd showed up to celebrate the Battle of the Bay rivalry that traditionally draws one of the largest crowds of the season in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It was this same crowd that applauded the show of affection and camaraderie displayed by Sergio Romo toward his former team, as fans on both sides of the bleachers cheered on his return to Oracle Park, even while sporting an A's uniform.
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