Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
For two-plus months of the season, Jaylin Davis watched. For the maximum 20 days of a rehab assignment, Davis worked.
It is possible his return to the majors lasted five games before it hit a snag.
After a partial tear of his patellar tendon during spring training knocked him onto the 60-day injured list and kept him away from contributing until he was called up July 1, Davis was pulled from Monday’s game with a left hamstring strain.
The outfielder ran hard to first base on a seventh-inning ground out to third base then did not return for the eighth inning. After the 5-3 loss to the Cardinals at Oracle Park, Gabe Kapler said Davis would get an MRI on Tuesday.
While the manager said he did not have a feel for the magnitude yet, it would be surprising if Davis did not become the latest Giant to require an IL stint. He has gone 1-for-9 in his five games, showing peeks of the pitfalls and potential the Giants see in him, including a dazzling double play in the field Monday, as well as recording the two hardest-hit balls of the game for either team (but neither a hit).
His 111.7-mph smoked batted ball in the second went for a double play; his 105.8-mph grounder to third eventually knocked him out of the game. Hitting balls on the ground has been his issue through nearly two years with the Giants, who see the potential but have been trying to get his swings sending balls north.
The fielding potential was flexed in the fifth, when he got a late break on a Harrison Bader flare to right. His speed made up for it, though, and he went airborne to rob a hit, then threw in to first behind Matt Carpenter for a double play. It helped extend Kevin Gausman’s no-hit bid, which lasted for 6 1/3 innings.
“The defense was unbelievable for me,” Gausman said. “The plays that they were able to make — Flo [Wilmer Flores] made a great play, Donnie [Donovan Solano] went back and got really two tough balls in the sun. They just played amazing for me, and Curt [Casali] really blocked the ball well.”
If Davis misses time, it is possible the Giants would turn back to Mauricio Dubon, who had gone 9-for-15 with Triple-A Sacramento before Monday’s game. Braden Bishop, another righty outfielder playing well with the River Cats, could be an option, although he would need to be added to the 40-man roster.
Gausman lost his no-hit bid in the seventh on a Nolan Arenado single to left on a two-strike splitter, one pitch after Arenado golfed a foul ball in fighting off what would have been strike three.
“He’s obviously one of the best third basemen, if not the best third baseman, in baseball,” said Gausman, who allowed two runs in the inning and game. “That’s what good players do, they make an adjustment. I was amazed that he went and fouled off the previous pitch, and it was a really good pitch that he happened to go get.”
Gausman was one of the Giants who modeled the City Connect jerseys. He should have designed them.
While the All-Star said the fog- and gradient-heavy jerseys are “super cool,” he said San Francisco is about more than the fog.
“They should have dressed us up as prisoners at Alcatraz or something,” Gausman said. “I think that would’ve been great.”
