SAN FRANCISCO -- Willy Adames could be questionable for the Giants’ upcoming series against the D-backs at Chase Field, as the veteran shortstop departed Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Braves with lower back spasms.
Adames visibly grimaced after striking out swinging to end the bottom of the seventh. He ended up being replaced by Casey Schmitt at shortstop the following inning.
“My lower back has been bothering me for a few days,” Adames said. “It just got locked up today in my first at-bat. It just stayed there. In my last at-bat, it just got worse.”
Adames said he’d been dealing with the back issue since the Giants’ previous series against the A’s, but he felt it get progressively worse on Sunday. The 30-year-old is likely to undergo an MRI exam on Monday in Arizona to determine the severity of the injury.
“He was having back spasms prior to that, so it was an accumulation of that,” manager Tony Vitello said. “I don’t think it was just about that [final] at-bat. Clearly, it made it worse. He was kind of going as deep into the game as he could.”
Schmitt had originally been penciled in to start in left field on Sunday, but he was a late scratch due to a viral illness that has been going around the Giants’ clubhouse. Still, San Francisco was short on infielders after designating Buddy Kennedy for assignment to open up a roster spot for outfielder Heliot Ramos before the game. That forced Vitello to bring in an under-the-weather Schmitt to man shortstop for the final two innings of the game.
"Going into the cage and telling him he was at shortstop -- it was like waking a drunk guy up for a job interview," Vitello joked. “He didn’t look good.”
Schmitt will be an option to fill in at shortstop if Adames needs to miss time, though the Giants could also recall infielder Christian Koss.
Koss hasn’t played for Triple-A Sacramento since May 23 due to a left wrist fracture, but he started a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League last week, so he should be available to join the team at Chase Field on Monday if needed.
“I think he’d be a candidate,” Vitello said. “Probaby offensively, he’s not going to be in the position he would want to be, or that we would want him in. But I think he could wake up out of bed and be ready to rock and roll defensively at any of those three [infield] spots. It’s a possibility. I think the biggest thing is to work through what Willy’s got going on and see where he’s at.”