PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies cannot afford to lose players in bunches throughout the season if they hope to make the playoffs.

But they placed three players on the injured list on Monday because of COVID-19 protocols: left-handers José Alvarado and Matt Moore and infielder Ronald Torreyes. There is no timetable for their returns. The team recalled left-handers Damon Jones and Cristopher Sánchez and infielder Nick Maton from the alternate training site to take their place. Maton made his big league debut at shortstop in Monday night’s series opener against the Giants at Citizens Bank Park, because Didi Gregorius’ right elbow is sore after trying to make a catch in the outfield on Friday.

Like Maton, Jones and Sánchez have never played in the big leagues.

“It’s obviously not what you want to go through as an organization, but you have to deal with it,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “You have to move forward. You have to continue to play well. Obviously, we have three kids that were called up that have never been to the big leagues. They’re going to be asked to play an important position at shortstop and to get outs. So, go get ‘em.”

The Phillies also lost their fourth and fifth coaches to COVID-19 protocols: first-base coach Paco Figueroa and assistant coach Bobby Meacham. They join hitting coach Joe Dillon, third-base coach Dusty Wathan and bullpen coach Dave Lundquist, who left the team last week. Infielder coach Juan Castro will coach first base and Triple-A Lehigh Valley manager Gary Jones will coach third base while Figueroa and Wathan are out.

Girardi said the series opener against the Giants was not in jeopardy of being postponed, but the threat remained.

“Could that change?” he said. “Yes, that could change.”

Alvarado has been a key piece in the bullpen’s early success. He and right-hander Archie Bradley entered the season as setup men for closer Héctor Neris. Bradley is on the 10-day IL because of a strained left oblique, leaving the Phillies even more shorthanded in the late innings. Right-handers Connor Brogdon, Sam Coonrod and Brandon Kintzler are expected to step into their roles.

Moore has a 9.82 ERA in his first three starts. Right-hander Vince Velasquez is preparing to start in his place on Friday night against the Rockies at Coors Field.

Girardi said the Phillies chose Maton over Scott Kingery, who has big league experience, because they still want him to work on his swing at the alternate training site.

There is no minimum amount of time a player must miss if he is in COVID-19 protocols, but Girardi said if there is enough contact with a COVID-19 positive person, the person is tested “pretty much every day for a week, and then you’re allowed to come back. There’s a lot of contact tracing that takes place over the next couple of days and they can make decisions based on that. But some guys can be out a week.”

Teams were informed just before Opening Day that MLB and the MLBPA have agreed to relax certain health and safety protocols contained in the 2021 Operations Manual for fully vaccinated Tier 1 Individuals and for clubs once 85 percent of Tier 1 Individuals are fully vaccinated. This applies to all players and staff who are considered Tier 1, including those at the alternate training site. As part of that memo, players and staff were again strongly encouraged to receive one of the approved COVID-19 vaccines when eligible.

Girardi declined to say where the Phillies are in vaccination rate, although he received his second shot on Monday. He said he will not pressure others to get it.

“Hopefully it works for me,” he said. “But for each player it’s a personal choice.”

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said they have tried to educate individuals about getting vaccinated.

“We continue to work on that on a daily basis,” he said. “If you ask me what my preference would be, I would say, sure, I would like to be at 85 percent. It makes a big difference.”