Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Pablo Sandoval returned to the Giants this season to hit righty pitching.
That has not happened, and so he recently has been facing no pitching.
Including Sunday against the A’s, Sandoval has been absent from five of the past six starting lineups, with just six plate appearances in the stretch — all outs.
The Giants are a platoon-heavy team, and yet righty Wilmer Flores is getting the start at DH against righty Mike Fiers. Sandoval, a switch-hitter who bats better lefty, does not have an avenue toward regular at-bats and has not shown reason for the Giants to find him at-bats, 0 for his last 11.
The Panda is slashing .159/.240/.159 in 50 plate appearances this year. He’s been reduced to pinch-hit appearances, and the next question would be how long this reunion with San Francisco lasts.
“One thing we know about Pablo is he comes off the bench beaded up, sweated, ready to bang,” Gabe Kapler said over Zoom before the series finale at Oracle Park, adding he would like to find Sandoval starts, but can’t justify benching Flores’ bat. “… I can tell you as an opposing manager, that’s one of the things that makes him so dangerous. So right now, [pinch-hitting is] his role.”
Sandoval is hitting balls about as hard as he always has: His 89.7 mph average exit velocity is in line with his 89.8 mph average last year. But 57.1 percent of his batted balls have been on the ground, easily the worst of his career, which has been a focus for Sandoval and the Giants’ batting minds.
The Giants’ lack of faith in Sandoval’s third-base defense presents another obstacle to putting a freezing bat into the lineup. The 34-year-old still takes pregame ground balls at third (and not first), but he has not seen third base in a game this year. He’s played first base just once this month, Sandoval having reported to camp 2.0 overweight.
If he fails in his few opportunities and the Giants continue to fall out of contention, he wouldn’t survive the season.
Righty hitter Darin Ruf also is out of the lineup against Fiers a day after Ruf’s first MLB home run (and off a righty) since 2016. In an obviously tiny sample size, the 34-year-old is 5-for-10 with that home run and a double against righties.
Kapler said Ruf will still get the occasional opportunity against righties, as happened late in Saturday’s game that began with an opposing lefty starter, and they’ll monitor if an everyday player emerges.
“If you see that [success] consistently over time, those opportunities are earned and we’d be foolish not to keep a bat in the lineup that continues to produce,” Kapler said. “We saw a little bit of that with Austin Slater.”
The full lineup behind Logan Webb:
1. Mike Yastrzemski, RF
2. Alex Dickerson, LF
3. Donovan Solano, 2B
4. Brandon Belt, 1B
5. Evan Longoria, 3B
6. Wilmer Flores, DH
7. Tyler Heineman, C
8. Brandon Crawford, SS
9. Mauricio Dubon, CF
