Chapman to receive MRI for abdominal injury he's had since April

PHOENIX – Already down one full-time member of their infield, the Giants saw third baseman Matt Chapman depart Tuesday’s 8-2 loss to the D-backs early due to a lower abdominal strain.

The five-time Gold Glover said postgame that he has been battling the ailment in on again-off again fashion since mid-April, but that it hadn’t grabbed on any one specific play all season until the second inning, when he ran down the first-base line. It flared up significantly in the bottom of the sixth, when he charged a ball hard at third and threw in time to get catcher Gabriel Moreno out, leaving Chapman visibility grimacing as he ran toward the dugout.

“It's been something that we've been treating and trying to keep me on the field,” said Chapman. “These last couple of weeks probably, it's been really tight where I can only stretch it. I can’t really do anything [to loosen it].”

Chapman took his next plate appearance in the seventh and popped out to first base, clearly laboring as he ran down the line. He was replaced defensively in the bottom half of the frame and is set to receive an MRI to determine the extent of the injury on Wednesday.

San Francisco is essentially playing a man down with shortstop Willy Adames still battling lower back spasms for which he received an MRI on Monday. The team did not discover any structural damage, and Adames was deemed available in an emergency situation on Tuesday, but manager Tony Vitello chose to shift Luis Arraez over to third in Chapman’s absence.

It marked the first time that Arraez – who has made 65 career starts in the big leagues at the position – made an appearance at the hot corner since 2022.

“He's down to do whatever,” Vitello said of Arraez. “You could put him in a position where he hasn't been before and he would do it for the team.”

In addition to his defensive odyssey, Arraez also collected three hits, falling just a double shy of the cycle. He concluded June with three consecutive multihit games, having hit .354 since the calendar flipped – the third-highest mark among all qualified hitters in the Majors.

“He was phenomenal. Speaking of determination, he's always got it,” Vitello said. “I don't think there's anybody out there that you could accuse of a lack of overall focus or effort, but if we could match his energy and his determination as a group, we'd be in a pretty good spot.”

The other trickle-down effect of Chapman exiting the game (and Casey Schmitt essentially needing to stay at shortstop with no others on the active roster behind him), was that Jonah Cox (Giants’ No. 24 prospect) shifted to second base, a position he last played for four innings for Single-A San Jose on May 18, 2024. (Injuries also necessitated a shift to the keystone that day.)

As the old saying goes, “the ball will find you,” and it certainly found Cox in the eighth when Ketel Marte smoked a 96.7 mph one-hopper that seemed destined for right field. Cox, who made a diving catch in center field on Monday night, immediately went to the turf and laid out to make the stop, recovering in time to get Marte.

“I kind of blacked out a little bit,” Cox said. “I think it's one of those things where I'm happy it wasn't a routine play because you don't have as much time to think on that one.”

Christian Koss was in Arizona on Monday as a member of the team’s taxi squad as it awaited word on Adames. He didn’t have a locker at Chase Field on Tuesday, but he did man shortstop for the club’s Rookie-level Arizona Complex League squad in Scottsdale, where he slugged a two-run home run.

Vitello admitted postgame that, “more than likely, one way or another, Koss is involved,” when asked about a potential roster move ahead of Wednesday’s series finale against the D-backs. The team will have an off-day Thursday before opening a three-game set in Colorado on Friday.

Further complicating the roster puzzle pieces, Chapman is also expected to go on paternity leave in the coming days as he and his wife, Taylor, are expecting a baby boy.

“I think baseball tests you every year and every day,” Chapman said. “And unfortunately, we're all being tested right now.”