SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants have already lost their starting third baseman and promising young catcher for the rest of the season. Now, San Francisco’s starting shortstop could miss more time with an ailment that’s bothered him for months.
Despite Adrian Houser’s excellent start, the Giants lost 2-1 to the Houston Astros on Wednesday afternoon as shortstop Willy Adames exited the game early with back spasms.
“I had to fight him tooth and nail to come out of the game,” said manager Tony Vitello. “Anyone who saw him moving around obviously knew he wasn’t moving around after that play full speed. The biggest thing was just to prevent anything from getting any worse than it is. I think his frustration is there’s been symptoms there lingering for — to be honest, I don’t know how long of the year.”
Vitello said he doesn’t believe Adames’ injury will require a trip to the injured list, adding that he will sit on Friday night against the Colorado Rockies.
This isn’t the first time that Adames has exited a game early due to his back. Adames was an early exit on June 28 due to back spasms, then missed the team’s next three games.
Adames visibly tweaked his back in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday. With no outs and a runner on first, the Astros’ Isaac Paredes hit a grounder at Adames that was tailor-made to turn two.
Instead of delivering a strong throw, Adames lobbed the ball to second baseman Osleivs Basabe. Basabe’s relay to first wasn’t in time to catch Paredes, and Adames tried stretching his back after the play.
On the very next play, rookie left fielder Victor Bericoto dropped a routine fly ball, allowing the Astros to put runners on second and third with no outs. Adames briefly met with a brainer when Vitello made a pitching change, but stayed in the game. The Astros took advantage of Bericoto’s error and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly.
Adames then led off the bottom of the seventh, popping out and jogging gingerly back to the dugout. He was then lifted for a defensive replacement ahead of the top of the eighth, where the Astros scored the go-ahead run on Nick Allen’s sacrifice fly off Keaton Winn.
The back ailment has clearly affected Adames, who is in the second year of a seven-year, $182 million contract. At the plate, Adames is posting career-lows in on-base percentage (.285) and OPS (.696). With the glove, he’s been one of baseball’s worst defenders by outs above average, a range-based stat.
“It’s tough to watch guys not be able to perform up to their ability, what they want to do,” said Houser, who played alongside Adames with the Milwaukee Brewers from 2021-2023. “But, like I said, it’s part of it. He’s been battling through it. That’s kind of what we all have to do is battle through it, and he’s been hanging in there with us. Hopefully, everything gets going back the right way and he can finish these last two months off and be in a good spot heading into next season.”
Adames’ injury overshadowed Houser, who pitched six scoreless innings with five strikeouts while allowing just two hits in his first start since June. Houser threw only 73 pitches but had no qualms with being removed after six frames since he hasn’t started recently.
The Astros threatened to score against Houser in the sixth but instead gifted him a ridiculous 6-5-4-5 double play thanks to questionable baserunning by not one, but two runners.
With one out and a runner on second, Jeremy Peña hit a soft broken-bat line drive that Adames picked out of the dirt. Allen, the runner on second, bolted for third and found himself in a pickle when Adames threw to third baseman Christian Koss.
Koss chased Allen before flipping to Basabe, who applied the tag for the second out. Peña tried to sneak over to second, but Basabe turned around and threw to Koss, who had the presence of mind to cover second. Koss applied the tag, the inning was over and Houser was fired up.
“That’s how you draw it up, right?” Houser laughed. “That was heads-up baseball. Everybody being where they needed to be and the guys paying attention, executing the play right there. That was great defense by our guys right there.”
Houser hopes his second stint as a starter with the Giants goes better than his first. Over 14 starts, Houser was 2-6 with a 5.73 ERA and 5.31 FIP over 66 innings before being demoted to the bullpen. Houser wanted to remain a starter, especially after signing a two-year deal to join the rotation, but the Giants needed to explore other avenues.
The right-hander pitched mostly in a bulk-inning role as a reliever, and found the success that eluded him as a starter. Over nine relief appearances, Houser had a 2.03 ERA (3.82 FIP) over 31 innings. The Giants had Houser follow an opener last Friday, but elected to start him outright for the first time since June 16 on Wednesday.
“I think it was beneficial for him to have a change of scenery and do some things,” Vitello said. “He helped us win some games, or at least get through some games in addition to winning some games. If we’re going to isolate today’s game, he absolutely established himself and took ownership of the game.”
With the Giants out of contention and Houser under contract for 2027, it would make sense for the team to keep Houser in the rotation the rest of the way and see what they have. The rotation will be a point of emphasis for San Francisco in the offseason, and getting another extended look at Houser could provide clarity as to how they should proceed.
“That’s what I signed here to do. That’s what I want to do,” Houser said when asked about the possibility of returning to the rotation. “That’s what I see myself as: a starter. But, at the end of the day, I always go about my business and want to take care of today and go out there and get outs.”