Facing a short turnaround before their three-game series with the Houston Astros, the San Francisco Giants were cautious with one of their surging offensive producers for their finale with the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
NBC Bay Area Sports reported that the Giants held third baseman Matt Chapman out of the game after he reported hamstring cramping after Saturday’s contest.
San Francisco started Casey Schmitt in his place. The move was made a couple of hours before the game.
The timing of the finale may have been a factor.
The Giants and Rangers played at 12:05 p.m. central time to accommodate a television broadcast on Roku. That will get San Francisco home earlier, but they turn around to play a three-game series with the Astros, which starts on Monday, so there’s no day off between these matchups.
The Giants aren’t off until Thursday when they get a break before hosting the Los Angeles Angels for a weekend set.
San Francisco likely wanted to ensure that Chapman didn’t have a setback. He reported the cramping after he made a diving attempt on a grounder in the ninth inning of Saturday’s game. Manager Bob Melvin said Chapman was “day-to-day.”
After a slow start, Chapman has provided them with consistency at the plate and on the field. He entered Sunday’s contest with a 25-game on-base streak, the longest by a Giants player since 2017. During the streak he has batted .295 with 14 extra-base hits, 14 RBI and 16 walks.
For the season he’s slashing .240/.318/.407/.724 with eight home runs and 28 RBI. But his slugging has come around in the past six weeks. His OPS soared from .597 in April to .792 in May, and his 17 doubles are fourth-most in the National League.
The four-time Gold Glove winner also has five defensive runs saved this season, which is best among MLB third basemen.
