Giants beat:
Oblique strain lands Alex Dickerson on injured list.
PHILADELPHIA — Alex Dickerson’s hitting ability is best illustrated by his .447 batting average after he developed back spasms in Milwaukee on the last trip and a subsequent oblique injury. You can see why the Giants were reluctant to place him on the injured list.
They finally surrendered Thursday after an MRI exam confirmed the mild strain in Dickerson’s right oblique, with a recovery estimate of five to 10 days. The 29yearold outfielder attributes the injury to compensating for pain after midJuly back spasms affected his left side.
“We hated doing it,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’d love to have his bat out there.”
So the Giants soldier into August without their sparkplug hitter. Evan Longoria’s return from a foot injury could be days away, which would help, especially if he hits the way he did before he got hurt.
Dickerson is frustrated by an injury that he insists is not serious nor related to his 2017 back surgery. He knows the Giants need him and he wants to be part of this stretchdrive push.
“Hopefully, it’s a quick recovery,” he said. “It’s a real small (strain), not the fourweek one. I just need to put it behind me so I don’t have to tiptoe around, ‘Will it be good today? Will it not?’ ”
The Giants replaced Dickerson on the 25man roster by promoting lefthander Sam
Selman from TripleA. Selman, who allowed a Roman
Quinn homer in his bigleague debut Thursday in the Giants’ 102 loss to the Phillies, was by one measure the most dominating TripleA pitcher this year with a 43% strikeout rate.
His 1.35 ERA and 0.75 WHIP ranked second among all pitchers in the Pacific Coast and International leagues who had thrown at least 40 innings.
“It looks like he could be a valuable piece of this bullpen,” Bochy said, noting that Selman’s performance gave Far
han Zaidi the confidence to trade another lefty, Drew Pomeranz.
Briefly: The Giants’ 196 July made them the first team in majorleague history to start July at least 10 games under .500 and end the month with a winning record. … Former Houston farmhand Jandel
Gustave pitched two shutout innings in his Giants debut, also his first bigleague game since 2017. … Brandon Belt and Mike Yastrzemski hit RBI singles for the Giants’ runs, in the fifth inning. Yastrzemski got doubled off second base on a Stephen Vogt lineout for a double play that killed what might have become a bigger rally.