Outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr., who will miss his 36th straight game on Tuesday with a right knee injury, is expected to be activated off the injured list in the finale of San Francisco’s two-game series against the Tigers.
Manager Gabe Kapler said there’s a “good chance” Wade returns Wednesday. The 2021 Willie Mac Award winner is with the team in San Francisco after spending the past three weeks rehabbing with the Sacramento River Cats.
“Feeling good,” Wade told reporters from the Giants dugout. “Excited to be back. Looking forward to tomorrow.”
Wade suffered an initial knee injury at the end of spring training. He made his season debut on May 6, but only played 10 games with the Giants before pain flared up again. When he got close to beginning a rehab assignment in early June, hamstring tightness surfaced and delayed things further.
“The whole situation has been frustrating,” Wade said. “Nobody really wants to miss time. I’ve missed a lot of time. It’s definitely been frustrating.”
Wade and the team has been cautious not to rush him back to action. Kapler has repeatedly said he wants to make sure the outfielder is completely confident in his body and ability to perform any action on a diamond. Getting comfortable and on time with pitching took some time, too, Wade said.
If he’s activated as expected on Monday, he’ll likely be in the starting lineup against right-handed starter Rony García. In 2021, Wade posted an .860 OPS against righties.
As the Giants offense has repeatedly been one hit away in close games this month, adding Wade — who has a penchant for coming through in tight games — could make a big difference.
- Yermín Mercedes is serving as SF’s designated hitter on Tuesday. With southpaw Tarik Skubal on the bump, the Giants snuck as many right-handed bats in the starting nine as possible. As a team, the Giants have fared slightly better against lefties than righties.
- After San Francisco’s series loss to the Reds on Sunday, Kapler said “there’s some work to be done” on the team’s off day Monday. How did he and the coaching staff approach it?
“We had several conversations over the past 24 hours,” Kapler said. “We know we need to play a crisper brand of baseball across the board, and we haven’t done that over the past six weeks or two months. Had a nice first month of the season and won some games, gave us a nice little cushion so we could be several games over .500 now and be in a good position to make moves for the rest of the season. But that’s also going to come from us being accountable and playing a crisper brand of baseball.”
- The Tigers are significantly more dangerous against left-handed pitchers than righties, partly because of future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera’s presence in the lineup. Cabrera has a career .368 average and has hit two home runs in 19 at-bats against Giants starter Carlos Rodón.