Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants’ righty problem at the back of their bullpen has gotten worse.
Trevor Gott, who had begun to win back some trust in going 4 1/3, one-run innings in his past six appearances, was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Sept. 10, with right elbow inflammation before the Giants’ doubleheader in San Diego on Sunday.
Rico Garcia, another righty reliever, was called up from the alternate site to replace him.
Cautioning that they’re in the early stages of evaluating Gott, Kapler said he’s optimistic the 28-year-old can return this season, which ends in two weeks.
Gott missed significant time last season with a UCL sprain and flexor strain in his right elbow. He entered this season as perhaps the Giants’ most trusted reliever and unofficial closer, a job he lost after three blowups from Aug. 14-17. He has bounced back though and, along with Sam Coonrod and Tyler Rogers, was one of the few righty arms in a bullpen that leans lefty. The Giants sought trade-deadline help to bolster the pen but struck out.
San Francisco will hope Garcia can fill the void. The 26-year-old from Hawaii opened the season with 4 1/3 scoreless innings before regressing and then being demoted. He was called up earlier in the week and pitched two innings against Seattle, letting up one run.
Infielder Daniel Robertson was designated as the 29th man for both games of the doubleheader, the first of which will be Johnny Cueto against Mike Clevinger. The Giants’ lineup:
1. Mike Yastrzemski, RF
2. Alex Dickerson, LF
3. Donovan Solano, 2B
4. Brandon Belt, 1B
5. Evan Longoria, 3B
6. Justin Smoak, DH
7. Brandon Crawford, SS
8. Mauricio Dubon, CF
9. Chadwick Tromp, C
