Posey returns from IL, hits homer
LOS ANGELES — Though not by nature a particularly dramatic fellow, Buster Posey certainly has a flair for the big moment.
The AllStar came off the injured list Monday after missing two weeks with a left thumb bone bruise and calmly parked a tworun homer over the bullpen in left in the first inning to kick off the first game of a major fourgame series at Dodger Stadium, with Los Angeles just a game behind San Francisco in the NL West.
Posey had had every in
tention of coming off the injured list for this past weekend’s series at St. Louis, but his injured thumb didn’t respond as hoped after he caught Jake McGee’s bullpen session Thursday. Instead, Posey joined fellow AllStar Kevin Gausman as the starting battery against the Dodgers.
Gausman came off the emergency family leave list Monday after returning to Louisiana to be with his wife, Taylor, who was released from the hospital Sunday after treatment for pregnancy complications. Working on seven days’ rest, Gausman wasn’t sharp, with his usually superb splitfinger fastball out of the zone too often. And while he gave up only two runs, Gausman threw 39 pitches in the first, 19 in the second and lasted just three innings, his shortest start in two seasons with the Giants.
Before the game, San Francisco put AllStar shortstop Brandon Crawford on the IL with a mild oblique strain; he’ll miss the team’s seven games in 10 days against the Dodgers and joins the rest of the team’s projected starting infield out of action.
Nevertheless, the Giants entered the day with the best record in the majors, at 5834, and Los Angeles has significant losses, too, with starters Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May on the IL and Trevor Bauer on administrative leave during MLB’s investigations of sexual allegations against him. Shortstop Corey Seager also remains out with a fractured hand, and right fielder Mookie Betts was a late scratch Monday with hip irritation. In addition, chief Giants irritant Max Muncy — who also homered in the first inning Monday — is expected to go on paternity leave any day.
The Dodgers have used the IL 28 times this season and have 10 men out. The Giants have used the IL 35 times, three of those short stints because of aftereffects of COVID vaccinations.
Posey will be using a thumb guard to catch, something he experimented with over the weekend. “For a while at least, just for a little bit more support for the joint,” said Posey, who took a foul tip off his knuckle on June 5 and compared it to getting jammed very badly.
Kapler said that the two weeks off might make Posey a little fresher. Posey said sometimes that can be the case, but also noted the opposite can happen, saying that sometimes “after you don’t play for a couple of weeks there’s some different soreness that you’ll go through.”
With the Giants playing the Dodgers four games this week and then three games at Oracle Park next week, the team likely will try to maximize his availability if possible, even if he stays on his usual twoon, oneoff schedule. However, he envisions a point during the season when the reins might come off.
“I do think there there’s a time probably in the near future when we push a little bit more,” Posey said.
“I think we’ll have that mindset that there is going to be a time to push Buster,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “But we’re going to evaluate what that time is not based on the schedule necessarily, or the opponent, but more on what we feel like his body can withstand given how many games are remaining on the schedule.”