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Buster Posey ‘still sore’ as Giants wait for All-Star catcher

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Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports


It has been clear the Giants would be careful with their All-Star catcher ever since his thumb contusion Sunday, but never more clear than Tuesday night.

With the game on the line in the bottom of the ninth, down a run with two runners on base, Posey remained stuck to the dugout as Chadwick Tromp took an at-bat — and popped out.

A day and a loss later, Gabe Kapler said Posey is “still sore,” as the 34-year-old was out of the starting lineup for a third straight game.

“Think that soreness is giving me some trepidation about putting him in the lineup and also makes it more difficult to determine how available he is to pinch-hit,” Kapler said before the series finale against the Cardinals at Oracle Park. “…We have to get through this tough time without Buster.”

The Giants have an off day Thursday and begin a three-game set Friday with the Nationals that leads into the All-Star break. Kapler said the Giants would continue seeing how Posey is feeling each day, but the fact Tromp is even with the team suggests there will be no rush of a player who is having a resurgent season in part because they have been careful with his resting schedule.

Without Posey on Wednesday, Curt Casali was catching Alex Wood. While Kapler suggested the Giants would see if Posey would be available later in the game, the chances are low.

The full lineup:

1. LaMonte Wade, 1B
2. Mike Yastrzemski, RF
3. Wilmer Flores, 2B
4. Alex Dickerson, LF
5. Brandon Crawford, SS
6. Jason Vosler, 3B
7. Steven Duggar, CF
8. Curt Casali, C
9. Alex Wood, P


There was a moment of silence before the game for Pablo Peguero, the Giants’ director of Dominican Republic Operations, who died unexpectedly Wednesday morning at his home in Santo Domingo. He was 68.

“The passing of Pablo Peguero brings great sadness to our organization,” Farhan Zaidi said in a statement of Peguero, who was in his 18th year with the organization. “Pablo was a beloved member of the Giants family and has been synonymous with baseball in the Dominican Republic for decades. Pablo was a great leader to our players and staff in the Dominican Republic, and a tremendous individual who always put others before himself. We express our deepest condolences to his family and will have them in our thoughts and prayers.”

Peguero oversaw the club’s scouting and player development operations in the Dominican Republic.

“As great as he was a leader and an evaluator of talent, he was an extremely humble person with a big heart, that he filled with love for his family, friends, baseball and the San Francisco Giants,” said Joe Salermo, the Giants’ director of international scouting. “Our hearts are heavy for him, his family, and the Giants family who knew him so well, but we celebrate him as he would have wanted us to.”


Alex Dickerson, who has been struggling, was in the cleanup spot, and Kapler had an interesting explanation.

“It’s nice to have a guy you’re going to hit for at the beginning of a left-handed run,” Kapler said of Dickerson, who was ahead of lefties Brandon Crawford, Jason Vosler and Steven Duggar and could be pinch-hit for by Austin Slater. “…This is about how how the opposing team matches up against us later in the game, what we can do, where our freedom and flexibility lies. It’s not about, like, the best hitters hit highest in the order.”