SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Now comes the tough part for Derek Holland. He must sit and wait.
A candidate for one of the pair of vacancies at the back end of the Giants' starting rotation, Holland did not separate himself from the other contenders, Chris Stratton and Ty Blach, with his Tuesday night outing against the Royals. Nor did the left-hander eliminate himself from consideration. He yielded three runs and five hits in four innings in San Francisco's 10-1 Cactus League loss.
Referring to Brian Sabean's baseball operations hierarchy, Holland said, "It's up to them what happens next."
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Giants manager Bruce Bochy praised Holland, who didn't issue a walk and struck out five, for staying ahead on the count.
"He got a couple of balls up," said Bochy, referring to the homers the nine-year veteran allowed to Whit Merrifield and Salvador Perez. "But overall he had a pretty good day."
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Camp battles
The three remaining infielders competing for a utility role all appeared in the game.
Kelby Tomlinson played the final three innings at third base and went 0-for-1 to drop his batting average to .300. Josh Rutledge singled twice and walked in four plate appearances while starting at shortstop. He's batting .355. Andres Blanco, a .278 hitter, played second base and scored San Francisco's lone run.

Up next
The Giants will confront National League West rival Arizona at Salt River Fields beginning at 6:40 p.m. PT on Wednesday. With Jeff Samardzija slated to pitch in a Minor League game, right-hander Dereck Rodriguez will start for the Giants. Listen to the game on an exclusive audio webcast.