Giants gain needed firepower with Haniger, Slater in lineup originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Gabe Kapler had a big smile on his face as he sat down in the dugout Monday afternoon.
“Taking a look at the lineup, it’s a little thing, but Wilmer Flores is hitting sixth today,” he said a few moments later.
The Giants are finally whole, and the timing couldn’t be better. Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater came off the IL on Monday just in time to face lefty Jordan Montgomery and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Without the two, the Giants have ranked 28th in OPS against left-handed pitching, but Slater is their usual leadoff hitter in those games and they gave Haniger a three-year deal to balance the lineup. He’s hitting third and playing left field in his Giants debut.
To make room for the additions, the Giants sent outfielder Brett Wisely back to Triple-A Sacramento and put Darin Ruf on the IL with right wrist inflammation. Kapler had seven right-handed hitters in his lineup against Montgomery and now he should be able to mix and match as he likes.
For Haniger, the debut will be a long time coming. He’s a Bay Area native who signed in the offseason in part to play for his hometown team, but he strained his oblique in the spring and then felt back discomfort as he was ramping back up. Haniger made four rehab appearances in Triple-A and hit a pair of homers. He said the most important thing was that his body was bouncing back every morning.
“I felt good,” he said. “I really focused on how I was responding and I felt good. I’m just excited to be back up here and help this team win.”
The Giants have won two straight games for the first time all year but they’re just 8-13, in large part because of their struggles against lefties. They’ll face another on Wednesday as they look to get in gear. This Cardinals series comes early in a stretch of five straight series against potential playoff teams.
“We have a good team here,” Haniger said. “We’re starting to get healthy, that’s the important thing.”
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While Haniger is all the way back, Slater still has a bit of work to do. A hamstring strain is what officially put him on the IL to start the season, but in recent days the bigger issue was his elbow, which flared up in the spring and in the past has limited him to DH duty.
“It’s been coming along slower than I would like,” Slater said. “But we’re close.”
Kapler wanted to ease Slater back in as a DH, which was easy to do since his usual DH — Joc Pederson — doesn’t start against lefties, but he said Slater is cleared to play center field when needed.
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