SAN FRANCISCO — Willy Adames’ cold snap progressed into a minor slump with another hitless effort Tuesday night, but that wasn’t the reason he was out of the lineup the following afternoon.
Adames was “kind of fighting through some pain,” in the Giants’ 6-3 loss to the Nationals, manager Tony Vitello revealed before Wednesday’s series finale.
The issue is in the shortstop’s upper leg — “knee to hip,” per Vitello — and only cropped up sometime during the loss Tuesday. He went 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts, extending his hitless streak to his past 17 at-bats over the previous four games.
“I think it affected the way he was moving a little bit,” Vitello said. “Yesterday, the read from everybody was he’s fighting through that thing.”
Adames pleaded his case to play Wednesday, Vitello said. But after consulting the training staff, the manager opted to pencil in a different name at shortstop — utilityman Casey Schmitt — for only the second time in 69 games this season.
Schmitt has spent most of his time lately in left field but reacquainted himself with the infield dirt by going through drills at shortstop with infield coach Ron Washington.
