PHOENIX -- Less than three weeks after Giants third baseman Matt Chapman landed on the injured list with a sprained right wrist, Casey Schmitt, Chapman’s primary replacement at third base, has landed on the injured list as well.
The Giants placed Schmitt on the 10-day IL on Monday (retroactive to June 27) with left hand inflammation. Infielder Tyler Fitzgerald was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento.
And as if Chapman and Schmitt’s injuries were not already costly enough, they may have lost another third baseman, Christian Koss, to a hamstring injury.
In the Giants’ 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Monday, Koss felt discomfort in his left hamstring as he tried to beat out an infield grounder in the sixth inning.
In his next at-bat, Koss launched a deep fly ball to the left-field fence that was originally ruled an out due to fan interference. Upon review, it was scored a double. Koss said that he felt a stronger grab in his hamstring immediately after leaving the batter’s box. He limped back to the Giants’ dugout as he was lifted for a pinch-runner.
“It’s not great,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of Koss’ injury after the game. “He’s definitely not going to play tomorrow.”
Melvin said that hamstring injuries are “tricky” and tend to be worse the next day, but it is unclear if Koss will require an injured list stint.
“Frustrating is a good word, especially with the way we’ve been playing,” Koss said. “Trying to get out of the rut and it seems like everything is kind of piling on. But us as a group, we’re resilient. We’ll find a way to get through it. Whatever this is, we’ll find a way.”
Logan Webb, who allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk on Monday, was asked about the club potentially losing another third baseman.
“It happens,” Webb said. “It sucks that it happens. But looking around baseball, there’s a lot of guys going out, especially this part of the year. It’s why they call it the dog days of summer. It’s tough, but it’s just next man up.”
Webb limited the Diamondbacks to five batted balls over 95 mph exit velocity on Monday -- three of which were on the ground -- but he ultimately took the loss.
Perhaps the game’s inflection point occurred in the eighth inning, when Heliot Ramos took a called third strike with the tying run at second and two outs in what was then a one-run game. The pitch appeared to be outside, and Melvin was later ejected for arguing the call.
The Giants went down in order in the ninth. San Francisco has now dropped 11 of its past 15 games.
If there is any silver lining for the Giants, it is that Schmitt’s MRI came back clean and he could return in a matter of days, per Melvin -- and that Chapman is still targeting a return before the All-Star break.
Schmitt’s injury occurred on June 25 against the Marlins, when he took a 95.2 mph sinker to the left wrist area in his final at-bat. After Schmitt sat out Thursday and Friday, Melvin initially had him in the lineup for both Saturday and Sunday’s games against the White Sox, but Schmitt has been unable to swing without pain and was scratched both days.
“We felt like he was making enough progress to be in there,” Melvin said prior to Monday’s game against the Diamondbacks. “That’s probably my fault to put him in a little prematurely. The last couple games have basically been the same for him. After watching him in the cage today, we put him on the IL.”
The timing of the injury is particularly rough for Schmitt, who hit .375 with a 1.090 OPS after taking over for Chapman at third base on June 10. For the season, Schmitt is hitting .276 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 34 games.
With Schmitt and Koss hurt, infielders Tyler Fitzgerald and Brett Wisely figure to get more opportunities. Fitzgerald made the most of his start at second base on Monday, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs.
Fitzgerald, who was optioned to Triple-A on June 23, said that the time away helped him clear his mind.
“It just feels good to hit the ball hard again,” he said. “Wasn’t doing that for a while. Just sucks we lost. I’ll build off the at-bats obviously, but I’m not too happy. We’ll get them tomorrow.”