SAN FRANCISCO — Three hours and 15 minutes before the first pitch Tuesday, the Giants announced that Jung Hoo Lee has structural damage in his left shoulder and will seek a second opinion, which might lead to surgery. Twenty-five minutes before the first pitch, they put Patrick Bailey back on the concussion IL, meaning at least another week without their most important player.
It didn’t get any better once the game started.
The Giants lost 10-2 at Oracle Park, dropping a fifth straight to the Los Angeles Dodgers and falling 10 games out in the NL West, and they once again finished their night with a player headed for the MRI tube. This time it’s right-hander Keaton Winn, who felt the dreaded forearm tightness in the fifth inning and was removed by trainer Dave Groeschner. Winn's final fastball was 92.3 mph, well below the 96-97 mph he was throwing early in the game.
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Winn said the sensation was similar to a cramp, and his level of concern was not high. But any time a pitcher experiences any sort of forearm discomfort, red lights start flashing and alarms go off. It’s a bit more worrisome when it’s a pitcher who twice has felt elbow soreness in the last calendar year.
“It doesn’t really feel related to it,” Winn said of the scares with his elbow. “Honestly it feels like a cramp. Hopefully it’s just a cramp.”
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The Giants will rely on hope the rest of this week when it comes to their leadoff hitter and their fifth starter. For Bailey, they at least were able to be proactive.
The catcher came off the concussion IL on Saturday after the minimum seven days, but a day later he didn’t feel right. Bailey was out of the lineup for a second straight game on Monday, and manager Bob Melvin said he still felt a little off. The Giants wanted to be especially careful with a core player who has multiple concussions the last two seasons.
“We just weren’t comfortable with how he’s feeling consistently,” Melvin said.
Without Bailey, Lee and other key bats, the Giants now resemble the Sacramento River Cats in a lot of ways. Another Triple-A player could be returning soon.
The Giants will skip their fifth starter spot this weekend and instead send Blake Snell up to Sacramento for one more rehab appearance. It seems likely that Winn will need at least a short stint on the IL, which means Mason Black could be returning along with Snell.
The Giants already have lost about half of their position players to injuries. Their best hope of staying afloat is to ride their rotation, and on Wednesday they'll send their ace to the mound, with Logan Webb looking to get revenge for a rough start at Dodger Stadium earlier in the year.
Stopping the bleeding is important any time you're the staff leader and you're taking the mound after your team drops the first two games of a series. But it feels particularly crucial now, during a stretch when the Giants seemingly lose a player to injury every single game.
"It sucks, honestly," Winn said. "That's about all I have for you. It sucks."
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