SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants are no longer living platoon life, but they still make tweaks to their lineup depending on whether they’re facing a lefty or a righty. On Tuesday, Jung Hoo Lee led off against a right-hander. A night later he was hitting sixth against a lefty, with Heliot Ramos in the leadoff spot.
Both nights, however, included Rafael Devers in the third spot, and that wasn’t just to keep him comfortable as he settled in at Oracle Park. Devers has a .909 OPS against right-handed pitching and a .882 OPS against lefties. He hits them all, and he is likely to hit third for Bob Melvin most nights. But the manager said Wednesday that he could change his mind over time.
“I don’t worry about where I hit him. I might worry about where I need him at times,” Melvin said. “Depending on how the offense is doing, you may juggle some stuff. You could see him in the two-hole, you could see him in the four-hole, something like that. But he’s not going to venture too far from where he is.”
Devers hit second in every appearance for the Boston Red Sox this year, but he also has 270 career starts in the cleanup spot and 75 hitting third. Teams often use their best hitter second these days, but having Devers third allows the Giants to keep Willy Adames — who was starting to come around in the week before the trade — near the top of the lineup. It should benefit Adames, too.
“I know in the long run for a fact I’m going to get more pitches to hit because of him,” Adames said Tuesday night.
With a different look at the top of the lineup, Lee hit in the bottom half for the first time in his two seasons as a Giant. Lee has done a nice job against lefties this season, but he is hitting just .192 in June.
“He hits lefties fine, but Ramos has really probably done the best job in the leadoff spot,” Melvin said of Lee. “With Flo in the lineup today behind Devers, I just moved him down a little bit.”
Disappointing Return
Justin Verlander called his return from the IL “frustrating” and “inconsistent.” He paid dearly for a fastball that was middle-middle and crushed into the seats. Three of the four runs on Verlander’s line came on that pitch, which he called “one of the worst I threw all day.”
Verlander fell to 0-4 and went just 4 2/3 innings in his return from the IL on Wednesday, but the Giants had him on a pitch count since he didn’t have a rehab assignment and instead built up with live BP sessions and bullpens. This is not how…