News » We’ll see how he responds

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants lost another player and the New York Mets took a step toward getting one back as the clubs prepared for a three-game series that begins Friday night with one still clinging to a sliver of playoff hope.The Giants (67-68) began Thursday — an off day for both teams — seven games back in the National League West and 7 1/2 behind Milwaukee for the second NL wild-card spot David Wright Jersey , then fell another half-game back of the Brewers (75-60) after Milwaukee beat the Cincinnati Reds in an afternoon affair.Meanwhile, the Giants learned they’d also lost center fielder Steven Duggar, their hottest hitter of late, for the rest of the season with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.Article continues below ...“The timing is awful,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Duggar, who provided difference-making hits in wins over Texas on Sunday and Arizona on Monday. “He was really in a good place.”The three games against the Mets, the fourth-place team in the NL East, provide a short break from a heavyweight-laden September schedule in which the Giants will go up against teams ahead of them in the standings — Colorado, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Colorado again — for 12 straight games starting Monday.The Mets have done a good job playing spoiler while encountering a rough patch of their own schedule. They split four games against the Giants last week in New York as part of an 8-7 run against Philadelphia (3-2), San Francisco (2-2), Washington (2-1) and the Chicago Cubs (1-2).In the meantime, the Mets have been trying to get their own house in order, sending former All-Star third baseman David Wright to the minors in his bid to play this season despite recent neck http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-wheeler-jersey , back and shoulder surgeries.Wright, who went 1-for-9 in two games for Triple-A Las Vegas this week, has rejoined the parent club in San Francisco, but solely to continue rehab for the time being.“We just haven’t seen that level of consistency of playing on a quantity or quality at this point,” Mets interim general manager John Ricco said this week, indicating that reinstating Wright to the major-league roster — even as they expand Saturday — was no sure thing.“Quite frankly as this point,” Ricco continued, “he hasn’t been able to make some of the benchmarks that were laid out for him (as he began his rehab stint).”Wright hasn’t played in a major-league game since May 2016.Zack Wheeler (9-6, 3.46 ERA), dealt from the Giants to the Mets for Carlos Beltran in 2011, will make his third career start in San Francisco since the trade. He’s 1-1 with a 4.22 ERA in the first two.The former No. 6 overall pick of the 2009 draft by the Giants has lived up to the early projections since the All-Star break, a stretch during which he has the second-best ERA in the NL (1.17) in seven starts.He’s 2-1 with a 3.45 ERA in five lifetime starts against the Giants.Rookie left-hander Andrew Suarez (5-9, 4.42), coming off seven shutout innings in a 5-3 win over Texas last Saturday Mookie Wilson Jersey , is scheduled to open the series for the Giants. He has never faced the Mets. The New York Yankees were not able to wrap up home field advantage in the wild card game Wednesday night.But they won even before the game started when Didi Gregorius, feared lost for the season with torn wrist cartilage, was given the OK to resume baseball activities. He is looking to return sometime during the weekend series in Boston.“Everybody plays through everything,” Gregorius said. “That’s why you want to keep going and be out there for the team. As soon as they let me play, I’m going to be in there.”Article continues below ...While nothing is certain, the hope is the shortstop can play before the end of the regular season.“That would be ideal,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll see how he responds and what the doctors are telling us, and then we’ll go from there. Hopefully that means getting him in there this weekend, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it all unfolds and how he’s able to bounce back from the workload.”As far as the game, Neil Walker hit a three-run homer in the first inning but that was it for the Yankee offense until a four-run ninth inning fell a run short in an 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees magic number for clinching home field for the wild card game remained at two after Oakland defeated Seattle 9-3 later Thursday.CC Sabathia (8-7, 3.77 ERA), who has not had tremendous career success against the Rays, nor in this September, will face Tampa “opener” Jamie Schultz (2-1 http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic-lenny-dykstra-jersey , 4.55) in the series finale Thursday afternoon.Sabathia, who picked up his 245th career win in his last start and then announced he plans to play next season, is 16-16 with a 3.73 ERA in 47 lifetime starts against the Rays — 7-9, 3.70 in 23 games at Tropicana Field. He lost back-to-back starts to Tampa Bay in June despite allowing four earned runs in 13 innings.His win against the Red Sox ended a five-game winless streak and he is 1-2 with a 7.02 ERA in September.Sabathia needs to work seven innings Thursday to get to 155 and receive a $500,000 bonus.While the news was good on Gregorius, Gleyber Torres, who sat out Tuesday with groin soreness, didn’t start but played Wednesday, while Aaron Hicks (hamstring) remained out. Walker left the game after getting hit on the shin with a pitch. X-rays were negative and he’s expected to be fine for Thursday.The news wasn’t as good for the Rays, with Kevin Kiermaier, who has had a nightmarish season thanks to injuries, suffered a hairline fracture of his right foot when hit by a Masahiro Tanaka pitch. Matt Duffy also left the game, with a tight quad.Said Kiermaier: “It’s just an unfortunate way for me to end the season but that’s kind of my 2018 in a nutshell. I feel like everything that could’ve went wrong for me did.”Ji-Man Choi, injured in a home plate collision Tuesday Gary Carter Jersey , felt much better but was rested — and will be available Thursday.Tommy Pham’s home run to centerfield broke a 3-3 tie, continuing his torrid hitting pace — he has reached base in 28 straight games and has a 10-game hitting streak (.444), after a 17-gamer was snapped.“Offensively, I’m still trying to figure out some things, and I think when I do figure it out, whether it be this year or the offseason — because it will be figured out before next season — I think I could truly be the player I think I’m capable of being,” Pham said. “I just haven’t figured out how to fix myself just yet.”Duffy is 5-for-9 lifetime against Sabathia, while Carlos Gomez is 9-for-21 with a homer.Tampa Bay’s Austin Pruitt is in line to get the bulk of the relief work in Thursday’s game, which will decide a season series tied at 9-9.