Crawford fresh and ready in return from injury

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Even after he was shut down for a week with left knee discomfort, veteran Brandon Crawford expressed confidence that he’d be back in time to make his 12th consecutive Opening Day start for the Giants.

Crawford took the first step towards accomplishing that goal on Wednesday afternoon, returning to the starting lineup for the first time since March 10 in a 4-0 win over the Rangers at Scottsdale Stadium. The 36-year-old veteran looked refreshed following his nearly two-week layoff, going 1-for-1 with a walk while logging four innings at shortstop.

Crawford, who went 1-for-11 (.091) over his first six Cactus League games, singled in his first plate appearance against Texas right-hander Jon Gray in the first inning, then worked a four-pitch walk in the third. He also saw plenty of action on defense, helping to turn two double plays behind starter Ross Stripling and nearly chasing down Jonah Heim’s single to shallow center field in the fourth.

“It was pretty good,” Crawford said. “I got a couple of pretty good tests. I feel like the first [double-play] ball I got there was a little change of direction when it ricocheted off Stripling, so I felt good on that. Then the popup in shallow center, I didn’t get to it, but it was still a pretty good test.”

Manager Gabe Kapler said he feels “confident” that Crawford will be ready to go for the club’s regular-season opener at Yankee Stadium on March 30, though the Giants will be careful not to ramp him up too quickly to avoid any more setbacks over the final week of exhibition play.

“I thought Crawford looked great,” Kapler said. “We’re going to keep prioritizing Opening Day and not push too hard. He didn’t have any issues with his knee at all, but we’ll probably just keep him short for a bit.”

Crawford is slated to get more at-bats as San Francisco’s designated hitter on Thursday, and will likely play again in Saturday afternoon’s Cactus League finale at Scottsdale Stadium. If all goes well, he could also make another appearance during the Bay Bridge Series against the A’s on Sunday and Monday.

Crawford said his knee doesn’t affect him too much while he’s hitting, which allowed him to continue to work in the batting cage and focus on “simplifying” his swing while he was shut down from other baseball activity. His knee tends to flare up more when he’s playing defense, which is worrisome considering that the Giants don’t have much established depth behind him at shortstop.

Second baseman Thairo Estrada is projected to serve as Crawford’s primary backup, but the Giants have been giving Brett Wisely and infield prospect Casey Schmitt some looks at short as well.

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Crawford, who landed on the injured list twice with a similar injury in 2022, received a cortisone shot on March 12 to help relieve the inflammation and swelling in his knee, which will likely have to be managed throughout the course of the regular season.

“There are days where it’s probably going to feel good and there are days where it won’t,” Crawford acknowledged. “We worked on some things to hopefully correct it a little bit. Hopefully we’ll kind of build off that.”

Jane’s world
Stripling fired 4 2/3 scoreless innings in his fifth appearance of the spring, but he was upstaged by his great aunt, Jane Jones, who delighted the crowd at Scottsdale Stadium by throwing out the first pitch of Wednesday's game.

Jones, who is in her early 90s and hails from Big Spring, Texas, walked to the top of the mound and confidently unleashed an underhanded pitch to catcher Ricardo Genovés. Stripling watched her big moment from the Giants’ bullpen out in right field, as he was finishing up his warmup tosses and couldn’t be there to catch the pitch himself.

“She fired up the crowd,” Stripling said. “It was just bad luck that I was pitching. I still thought about going out there to catch it, but it was at, like, the worst time. It was fun. It looked like she had a good time. I’m excited to see her.”