© Sergio Estrada | USA Today
SAN FRANCISCO – After a 2-3 start to the second half of the season, the Giants are set to kick off a four-game homestand against the Milwaukee Brewers, who lead the National League Wild Card race. With that return home, manager Bruce Bochy announced a series of roster moves.
First, the bad news. First baseman Brandon Belt will be out for longer than initially expected with what was initially deemed a hyperextended right knee and will head to the 10-day disabled list.
“He had an MRI and it showed a bone bruise, so he’s going to be down for a few days, probably five days before he can start doing some activities. So we decided to put him on the disabled list to give him time to get ready. It’s kind of hard to go short when he probably won’t be playing for around 10 days, and it makes it easier with the shorter DL stint.”
But as Belt heads to the DL, third baseman Evan Longoria returns from it. Longoria will make his first start for the Giants since June 14, when he suffered a broken bone in his left hand. His return meant second baseman Kelby Tomlinson will head down to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats.
“I just talked to (Longoria) a little bit and he says he’s good to go,” Bochy said. “He didn’t go into detail, I just assume he feels fine at the plate and he better, because he’s in there.”
Watch Longoria take batting practice with the Giants below:
Longo's back
Tell a friend pic.twitter.com/JIgLVas5FT— KNBR (@KNBR) July 27, 2018
Moving Belt to the disabled list and sending Tomlinson to Triple-A allowed the Giants to keep long reliever Ty Blach on the roster while also calling up Chris Stratton.
“Stratton will assume a long man role, also help us late in the game if needed there,” Bochy said. “So we’ll kind of move him around similar to how we’re using Ty Blach. It just gives us a little bit more coverage. It makes it a little bit easier to use Ty if needed for an inning or so, that way we don’t get caught in a bind where we don’t have our long guy available. The games we’ve been playing, we’ve been running short on pitching, so this gives us some more coverage.”
