Matt Chapman goes on IL, and Giants respond with 4-run comeback win in ninth

New York Times

a day ago

DENVER — When the San Francisco Giants won five consecutive games last week after president of baseball operations Buster Posey shook up the roster, there was little doubt that the moves, and the sense of urgency behind them, put some wind in the team's sails.
But here's the issue with navigating a 162-game season: The doldrums can be as near as one injury to one indispensable player.
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The Giants expect to be without Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman for several weeks, and potentially most of the 30 games that remain before the All-Star break, after an MRI on his right hand showed sprained ligaments and a bone bruise. The team placed Chapman on the 10-day injured list Tuesday, two days after he jammed the hand against the Atlanta Braves while getting picked off first base in the eighth inning.
The Giants followed up that news Tuesday with eight mostly listless innings against the worst team in the major leagues. Then the wind kicked up in the ninth, and they rallied for a four-run uprising to take a 6-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
None of the victories in their six-game winning streak has been a boat race. They've won them all with a one-run margin. This latest one might have been especially significant, given the distressing pregame news that they will be without their leading home run hitter and unofficial infield captain
'Every team goes through injuries, (and) we've actually been pretty lucky as far as injuries go this year,' Giants manager Bob Melvin said before Tuesday's series opener at Coors Field. 'Some guys are probably a little more valuable than others. He means a lot to us. But Casey (Schmitt) gets a chance to play the position he's used to playing. Everybody's gotta pick it up a little bit till (Chapman) comes back.'
That's precisely how it went Tuesday. Schmitt, the player taking Chapman's spot at third base, led off the ninth-inning uprising with a dugout-stirring home run. Schmitt also started a 5-4-3 double play in the bottom of the ninth that helped Camilo Doval record a one-run save despite allowing three base runners in the inning.
Willy Adames, who could replace much of Chapman's production at the plate if he can find his long-awaited groove, had one of his most productive games as a Giant. He came through with a sacrifice fly and a 439-foot solo home run but might have made his most important contribution in the ninth-inning rally when he worked an 0-2 count into a walk. Adames was batting with the tying runs on base after Tyler Fitzgerald and Andrew Knizner drew walks and Jung Hoo Lee hit into a forceout at third base. But when the two-strike pitches weren't there, Adames resisted the urge to be the hero.
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Instead, his walk helped to set up Heliot Ramos' sacrifice fly, and the Giants relied on a little luck after that. Wilmer Flores, whose sprint speed of 24.4 feet per second ranks in the third percentile among major-league players, put a ball into play at 49.3 mph and a launch angle of minus-72. So it qualified as a miracle of miracles when he beat it out for an infield single as the tying run scored. Then Mike Yastrzemski laced a single to right field that scored Adames from second base.
"Unbelievable." pic.twitter.com/zjkqZ5o6QD
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 11, 2025
'Every now and then you're gonna get a dribbler like Flo's, get a break,' Melvin said. 'But when you're getting at-bat after at-bat that's really good, drawing some walks and putting pressure on guys, a lot of times, good things are gonna happen.'
It was the Giants' 19th comeback victory of the year and pushed their record to a season-high 11 games over .500.
'Obviously, it's detrimental, losing Chappy,' Yastrzemski said. 'But we've created a belief in this clubhouse that everyone is capable of doing the job and competing their tails off. And I think you saw that tonight. It's going to come from a lot of different places. The mentality doesn't change.'
To Yastrzemski's mind, that belief was never more evident than when Adames worked his walk in the ninth.
'I think it's maybe even bigger (than his home run),' Yastrzemski said. 'It shows discipline at the plate and that he's seeing the ball well, but it's also showing trust in the guys behind him. That's all you can ever ask for in a teammate: to believe in you like you believe in them. That's what he did with Ramos and Flo there, knowing those guys were coming up.'
Adames had just one regret about the ninth-inning rally. He was sprinting to second base and couldn't appreciate Flores and his 'Chariots of Fire' moment.
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'I knew he was going to go 200 percent,' Adames said. 'I was sad because I couldn't see it because it would've been funny for me to see him run. But I'll go watch the video and give him crap tomorrow.'
And what about having a productive game after watching from the bench Sunday and enjoying an off day Monday? Adames doesn't like to take days off, but he had to acknowledge it might have helped clear his mind.
'Just taking good at-bats was what I take out of tonight,' Adames said. 'Obviously, getting a homer feels great. But for me, just the feeling of seeing the ball better, taking good at-bats and competing, that's the most important for me.'
The Giants will need productive at-bats up and down the lineup without Chapman, who remained prone on the ground in obvious discomfort Sunday after he planted his right hand in the dirt and then bent back his middle three fingers when they got pinned underneath his leg on his sliding attempt. He played third base in the ninth inning and made warmup throws before that inning, but said after Sunday's game he initially thought he tore ligaments in his index, middle and ring fingers.
An MRI confirmed the sprains, which are defined as at least microscopic ligament tears. Chapman will visit hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin in Los Angeles, after which the team expects to have a clearer idea of the third baseman's return-to-play estimate.
'For him to have that kind of reaction, I kind of knew,' Melvin said. 'He's a pretty tough guy and can take a lot of pain. So the IL wasn't a surprise. How long it's going to be is to be determined.'
The Giants are losing Chapman during his best offensive stretch of the season. Though hitting safely in 12 of his last 14 games, he had a .354 average and .456 on-base percentage; he owned five doubles and three home runs among his 17 hits, including Saturday's two-run shot with two outs in the ninth that clinched a 3-2 victory over the Braves.
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'It sucks because we just won five games in a row, we're starting to get some momentum going, and I felt like I was really starting to put together some really good at-bats and feel good,' Chapman told the San Francisco Chronicle and MLB.com. 'Just bad timing, but it's the way this is sometimes. I'm really bummed out, but I'm happy that I get to come back at some point and help our team by the end of the first half and throughout the whole second half. That's my focus right now.'
(Photo of Willy Adames: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)