Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
If Alex Dickerson is not activated Sunday, the earliest he can come off the injured list, his return would come shortly thereafter.
The Giants will happily take it, but it would have been more opportune if he were eligible to be activated a day earlier.
The Giants may be shorthanded in Pittsburgh, with lefty hitters Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Belt both out of the lineup while nursing injuries.
Yastrzemski’s left side “is pretty sore,” Gabe Kapler said before game three of the series with the Pirates at PNC Park. “I don’t anticipate this being especially long term, but we felt like it was best to give him a blow today.”
The right fielder smacked into the wall in Friday’s 11th inning while trying to make a miraculous grab on a drive that became an Adam Frazier triple. TV cameras caught him in obvious discomfort after the crash. Yastrzemski had recently been activated off the IL with an oblique strain, but this pain is unrelated.
Belt has not been able to fully shake side tightness, which prompted an early exit in Tuesday’s game, after which he said he’d been dealing with the issue for about a week. He returned to the lineup Friday, but Kapler was not sure yet if he could be available Saturday.
Making the absences of Yastrzemski and Belt easier is the presence of former Giant lefty Tyler Anderson on the mound. Both lefty hitters have struggled against lefty pitchers this season, and righty Mitch Keller is set to start for Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Donovan Solano was set to play five innings for Triple-A Sacramento on Saturday, Kapler said. The Silver Slugger second baseman is beginning a rehab assignment from a calf strain that has kept him out since April 21.
Without Yastrzemski and Belt, the Giants’ lineup had a different look:
1. Austin Slater, CF
2. Darin Ruf, RF
3. Evan Longoria, 3B
4. Wilmer Flores, 1B
5. Brandon Crawford, SS
6. Mauricio Dubon, 2B
7. Curt Casali, C
8. Mike Tauchman, LF
9. Johnny Cueto, P
Why Ruf in right and Tauchman, the better outfielder, in left?
“This is a very difficult left field,” Kapler said over Zoom. “… Also the sun is a major factor. Very challenging left field to play. So we just felt like a little bit smaller right field, a little less ground to cover, a little less glare.”