The Giants activated both Andres Torres (Achilles’ tendon) and Mark DeRosa (wrist) from the disabled list Tuesday and inserted them right into the lineup for their game against the Diamondbacks.
Torres is returning to his usual leadoff spot, while DeRosa is playing third and batting seventh.
As expected, the Giants sent the struggling Miguel Tejada to the bench to make room for DeRosa. Tejada played shortstop before moving to third when Pablo Sandoval got hurt, but Mike Fontenot has been red-hot and will stay there for now. Tejada is hitting just .195/.230/.263 with one homer and nine RBI in 118 at-bats.
What is unexpected is that Aaron Rowand remains in the lineup in left field. Rowand did a nice job filling in for Torres last month, but he’s slumped of late: he’s hitting .212 with just one RBI and 12 strikeouts in eight games this month. Overall, he’s at .271/.317/.398 n 118 at-bats. Pat Burrell, who is taking a seat, is hitting .239/.364/.446.
The move signals a philosphy shift from manager Bruce Bochy. Before the season started, Bochy indicated that it was Torres who would move around the outfield when he and Rowand played together. Now, however, Torres is playing center and Rowand is making just his second start in an outfield corner since 2004. It’s just the fourth time in his career that he started in left field, though he did see a bunch of action there as a defensive replacement in his early days with the White Sox.
