Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants’ fingers will remain crossed on Mike Yastrzemski.
An MRI showed that he has a mild right calf strain, Gabe Kapler said Friday, and the Giants consider the right fielder day to day.
Yastrzemski felt his calf grow tight while in the batter’s box Thursday and exited the game in the second inning. Kapler said an injured-list stint was considered for Yastrzemski, but with his value to the team — unquestionably the club’s MVP — and with 11 games remaining in the season, they will hope he recovers quickly.
“Yaz is important enough to this club where we really don’t know how long it’s going to be, whether it’s one, two, three days or more,” Kapler said over Zoom before the Giants began a three-game series in Oakland. “We want to ensure that we have some optionality there. To the degree that he’s able to play for us in the coming days, we have to preserve that.”
Yastrzemski will break his perfect-attendance streak, having played in all of the Giants’ 49 games this season. Without him, Alex Dickerson is batting leadoff for the first time in his career and Darin Ruf is playing right (and in the lineup against A’s righty Chris Bassitt), a configuration that Kapler admitted is “not the most comfortable.” He hopes the Giants will race off to a lead, and Luis Basabe can enter the outfield in the later innings.