Medical checks pending for pitchers Wood, Núñez
SURPRISE, Ariz. — Teams tend to solidify rotations and bullpens in the final weeks of spring training, but the Giants find themselves with two significant health concerns as the clock ticks.
Lefthander Alex Wood, one of three veteran starters signed to freeagent contracts, has a stiff back and was sent to a spine specialist. No matter the prognosis, he’s not expected to pitch in a Cactus League game any time soon.
Dedniel Núñez, a hardthrowing Rule 5 reliever, was diagnosed with an ulnar collateral ligament sprain and will have a second opinion on his right elbow.
If they’re shelved for an extended length of time, the Giants must make adjustments with their seasonopening pitching staff, especially in their rotation where Wood was to join Kevin Gausman, Johnny Cueto, Anthony DeSclafani and Aaron Sanchez, who’s expected to make his Cactus League debut this week.
Without Wood, who also experienced back issues with the Reds in 2019, the likely pitcher to join the rotation is Logan Webb, who has been dominant so far, striking out 10 and walking one in three scoreless outings.
“Aaron Sanchez and Logan Webb are both in great position to be on our Opening Day roster as starters,” said manager Gabe Kapler, noting nothing is concrete until the Giants hear from Wood’s spine specialist. “But I think we have options, and we also have some off days early on. There are lots of ways to be creative at this point.”
Wood made two starts and surrendered one run in three innings.
Núñez, who has allowed four runs in four outings, left Friday’s game with elbow soreness after his velocity dipped. A UCL injury can lead to Tommy John surgery, but the Giants won’t know what’s next until the second opinion is shared.
“What we’ve seen from Núñez,” Kapler said of the righthander obtained from the Mets in the December Rule 5 draft, “is a guy who throws 96, 97 mph with his fastball, has a really good slider, big strong body, very confident kid, works fast. We want the best possible outcome here for him.”
Because it’s 2021, pitcher Anthony Banda started Monday’s 61 loss to the Royals in Surprise, Ariz., got replaced after six batters and returned to start the second inning. The new reentering rule applies in spring training so pitchers, especially if they’re struggling,
can reach their pitch count over multiple innings instead of all at once.
Banda needed all the help he could get. After shortstop Marco Luciano made an error on Banda’s first batter — failing to stop a grounder after backing up on the ball — Banda gave up hits to three of the next four batters, including Salvador Perez’s tworun double.
⏩ Luis Gonzalez was the pitcher who appeared between the Banda outings and gave up a tworun homer to Bubba Starling.
⏩ Trevor Gott, who struggled as a Giants closer last season, appeared in his fourth game and finally walked his first batter. In the abbreviated 2020 season, he walked eight batters in 112⁄3 innings. His strikeouttowalk ratio is a more efficient 8:1 in Cactus League play.
⏩ It was 12 up, 12 down to start the game for Royals pitcher Danny Duffy. Once he departed, Alex Dickerson doubled to open the fifth. Darin Ruf, who doubled in the seventh, scored the Giants’ lone run.
John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicle’s national baseball writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey