Giants use outfielder at second base after Chapman, Adames injuries

PHOENIX — The entirely predictable hypothetical that Tony Vitello dismissed as “made up” and didn’t want to think about before Monday’s game, of course, came to fruition barely 24 hours later.

An abdominal strain that had been bothering Matt Chapman for more than a month flared up worse than ever before, forcing the Giants’ third baseman out of Tuesday’s 8–2 loss to the Diamondbacks.

It was just the situation the Giants feared without a backup infielder on their roster.

“We assured him,” Vitello said, “there’s a couple different moves we can make, so don’t try to fight through this thing just because of the situation we’re in, where we’re a little shorthanded.”

With Willy Adames (back spasms) already unavailable, the Giants ended the game with Luis Arraez at third base for the first time since 2022 and an outfielder — Jonah Cox — at second. 

The wait-and-see situation with Adames has effectively left the Giants a man down since he left Sunday’s game. They have declined to place him on the injured list to bring in a healthy body.

That’s no longer tenable after losing Chapman, too.

“More than likely one way or another [Christian] Koss is involved,” Vitello said.

The Giants opted not to pull that lever in anticipation despite Koss being on hand Monday and Vitello on Tuesday expressing that Adames would benefit from a few days off, with the hope to keep him off his feet until after Thursday’s off day.

When Heliot Ramos was activated Monday, the Giants opted to open a roster spot by trading Buddy Kennedy to the Mariners for cash, leaving them with six outfielders and no backup infielders.

Posed a question about the team’s plans should another infielder, such as Chapman, were to go down, Vitello said, “it’ll be a little bit of what’s going on in the game as far as how we want to manage your made-up scenario, which we won’t worry about.”

A day later, it was something to worry about.

Chapman will undergo an MRI on Wednesday but seems to be a strong candidate for the injured list. He is expected to miss three days soon anyway for the birth of his son, who is due this weekend.

Like Adames and his back spasms, Chapman said he’d been playing through abdominal problems for some time. In his case, it’s been “hot and cold” since the start of May.

“It hasn’t been to where it’s been affecting me — I would say something — but it’s been something we’ve been treating to try to keep me on the field,” Chapman said. “There’s been good days and bad days. These last couple weeks, probably, it’s been really tight.

“For whatever reason, today when I ran to first in my first at-bat, I started to feel it get really pissed off and bother me. Then it went away.

“When I made that barehanded play, that was the first time that it made me cringe and go down a little bit to where I was actually in a lot of pain.”

Chapman winced and grabbed at his midsection after retiring Gabriel Moreno for the final out of the sixth inning, barehanding a soft groundball and firing to Rafael Devers at first.

Meanwhile, Cox was on high alert in the batting cages behind the visitors’ dugout.

Chapman initially remained in the game and took his next at-bat in the top of the seventh, but he was clearly in pain. When the bottom of the inning began, Cox was at second base.

“He took a swing and kind of pulled up,” Cox said. “I was like, ‘Ohhh, here we go.’”

Cox, who hadn’t played the infield since college, was the designated backup in a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency scenario. He had been working with Ron Washington just in case, which appeared to pay off almost instantly when Cox had to dive to his left to make a play.

He looked like a natural.

“I kind of blacked out a little bit,” Cox said. “It’s one of those things where I’m happy it wasn’t a routine play because there wasn’t much time to think on that one.”

Chapman, the five-time Gold Glove winner, was impressed by what he saw on the clubhouse TV.

“He looked good over there,” Chapman said. “I was inside and saw the diving play. It’s like riding a bike for him.”

The good news, if you can call it that, is that it didn’t impact the outcome of a game the Giants already trailed 8-2. And Cox, whose speed and outfield defense have made him a useful bench piece, may have a reason to expand his portfolio.

He’s carried an infielder’s glove with him dating back to the minor leagues.

“It’s kind of become a running joke the last few years in the minors because I always carried it with me,” Cox said. “I grew up watching Chris Taylor and guys like that, who can play literally all eight positions, so that’s kind of something I’ve aspired to be.”

Believe it or not, the circumstances that led to him putting that infielder’s glove to use weren’t even the most outlandish of Cox’s career to lead to him making a cameo on the infield dirt. 

He logged four innings at second base once with Single-A San Jose.

“That was even more of a story,” Cox said. “We had a guy get hit in the head, a guy get a hamstring and a guy tear an oblique or something like that. A little less steps today.”

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