Giants forced to use outfielder at second base after injuries to Matt Chapman, Willy Adames

PHOENIX — The entirely predictable hypothetical that Tony Vitello dismissed as “made up” and didn’t want to think about before Monday’s game, of course, came to fruition barely 24 hours later.An abdominal strain that had been bothering Matt Chapman for more than a month flared up worse than ever before, forcing the Giants’ third baseman out of Tuesday’s 8–2 loss to the Diamondbacks.It was just the situation the Giants feared without a backup infielder on their roster.“We assured him,” Vitello said, “there’s a couple different moves we can make, so don’t try to fight through this thing just because of the situation we’re in, where we’re a little shorthanded.”With Willy Adames (back spasms) already unavailable, the Giants ended the game with Luis Arraez at third base for the first time since 2022 and an outfielder — Jonah Cox — at second. The wait-and-see situation with Adames has effectively left the Giants a man down since he left Sunday’s game.They have declined to place him on the injured list to bring in a healthy body.That’s no longer tenable after losing Chapman, too.“More than likely one way or another [Christian] Koss is involved,” Vitello said.The Giants opted not to pull that lever in anticipation despite Koss being on hand Monday and Vitello on Tuesday expressing that Adames would benefit from a few days off, with the hope to keep him off his feet until after Thursday’s off day.When Heliot Ramos was activated Monday, the Giants opted to open a roster spot by trading Buddy Kennedy to the Mariners for cash, leaving them with six outfielders and no backup infielders.Posed a question about the team’s plans should another infielder, such as Chapman, were to go down, Vitello said, “it’ll be a little bit of what’s going on in the game as far as how we want to manage your made-up scenario, which we won’t worry about.”A day later, it was something to worry about.Chapman will undergo an MRI on Wednesday but...