© Kiel Maddox | USA Today
SAN FRANCISCO – The story of the Giants season has been one of injuries. When one player comes back, another seems to go down. That was the case when Evan Longoria returned to the lineup this week after six weeks on the disabled list, while Brandon Belt was sent to it following a bone bruise in his knee.
When the offense finally came alive following a stretch of six losses in seven games on Sunday, it came at a cost. Both Andrew McCutchen and Pablo Sandoval had to be removed from the game due to injury – Sandoval with a right hamstring strain and McCutchen with a left foot contusion from multiple foul balls. Sandoval will receive an MRI in the morning when the Giants arrive in San Diego.
Sandoval finished after a two-RBI triple – his first since 2015 – and run in the fifth inning. He tagged up from third base on a short fly ball to right field, just beating the throw home on a slide. When he stood up, he had a limp, and was pulled for Austin Slater.
McCutchen was pulled in the top of the eighth inning, after Hunter Pence had already pinch-hit, leaving long reliever Ty Blach to replace McCutchen in the order. Chase d’Arnaud took the ninth spot in the order and moved to first base, while Slater moved to left field and Gorkys Hernandez moved from left to right.
Bench coach Hensley Meulens – who was filling in while manager Bruce Bochy was attending Trevor Hoffman’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, NY – explained the odd series of switches after the game.
“The one move we probably would have made is keep Hunter (Pence) in the game when he pinch-hit, but Cutch was sitting down,” Meulens said. “But when he stood up, he immediately felt some pain and wanted actually to come out of the game there. But I already went straight up with a pitcher in the game. So that immediately made our bench shorter, so we had to be creative there and put d’Arnaud at first and put Slater back in the outfield where he’s more comfortable.”
Sandoval said the pain he felt was similar to his famous stretch play at first base in 2012, adding that he hoped he wouldn’t miss time to injury.
“I hope not,” Sandoval said before smiling. “I’ll miss some time when Belt comes back.”