Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
If there is good news surrounding Brandon Belt, it’s that Gabe Kapler does not feel his side issue is getting substantially worse.
Even if it might have looked like that.
The Giants first baseman was removed from Tuesday’s game during a ninth-inning at-bat in which he swung, dropped the bat and grimaced. He has been battling left side tightness for weeks and been in and out of the lineup while the club and player tried to avoid an injured list stint.
He has been out of the starting lineup in eight games since May 12 and underwent an MRI last week that came back clean. Kapler said he wants “to stay optimistic” because the tightness is about the same as he has been dealing with, but they still need to check on the side again.
“We’re trying to figure it out,” the manager said after the 8-0 win over the Diamondbacks in Arizona. “I wish I had more answers for you. We’re going to potentially get it scanned again. We’re definitely going to have him see the doctor again.”
Belt has left the game after hurting himself on this swing pic.twitter.com/cKjXceTwVY
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 26, 2021
Belt has not looked the same, going 3-for-15 with eight strikeouts in the span and swinging through an awful lot of fastballs. He also had an uncharacteristically high throw to Brandon Crawford on a play that might have started a double play otherwise.
The Giants are pretty shallow at right-side-of-the-infield lefty depth at the moment, having already lost Tommy La Stella until July. While Kapler did not hint that there would be any IL placement — at least without a doctor’s visit first — the most natural fill-in would be LaMonte Wade Jr., who has a .431 on-base percentage in Sacramento.
Darin Ruf is another option already on the roster, and he’s seen more time against righties and could continue to do so if Belt will be out for a while.
Speaking of veterans needing a break, Evan Longoria sure looked well-rested.
The Giants have relied heavily upon him this season — the lefty complements who were brought in entail La Stella and Jason Vosler, who has 14 big-league at-bats — but Kapler sat the third baseman Sunday, despite the Giants facing the Dodgers and despite a lefty (Julio Urias) being on the mound.
The manager wanted to ensure the 35-year-old would be fresh, and he responded by hitting his farthest homer as a Giant (444 feet) during a 3-for-4 day with four RBIs.
“All of our veteran players need to get days off, and it’s just one of those things that we have to be really disciplined,” Kapler said over Zoom. “Sometimes they’re going to be the best option in the lineup, and we’re just going to [sit them] anyway. It’s just going to be part of this going forward.”
Longoria, who takes pride in always being available, understands.
“We’ve got four months of baseball left. So I think trying to keep that in perspective is key,” said Longoria, whose .813 OPS would be his high mark as a Giant. “Obviously very tough to just sit on the bench and not be able to contribute, but I think long term if we can, as a group, have all of our veteran players out there for 145-plus games, then we’re going to be in a pretty good spot.”
Kevin Gausman acknowledged he didn’t have his best stuff and again said it was a grind — he’s not sure why there have been a few of these battles recently — but still threw five scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.53, which is behind only Jacob deGrom, Brandon Woodruff and Lance Lynn.
He got into plenty of jams but then relied upon his four-seamer and splitter to get him out. The Diamondbacks went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position against him. On the season, opponents are now 1-for-37 with 20 strikeouts in those situations.
“I just feel confident with my best two pitches, and usually that’s what I’m going to go to when the going gets tough,” said Gausman, who struck out eight. “…If I’m able to establish my fastball up in the zone and down in the zone and throw strike-to-ball splits off of that, I’m going to be tough on hitters.”