Just two days after returning from the injured list, San Francisco Giants outfielder Jerar Encarnación may require more time away from the field, this time due to a hamstring injury.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Encarnación missed 99 games with a broken hand and then an oblique strain. In the seventh inning of the Giants’ 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, Encarnación came up limping after crossing first base on a groundout to second base.
Encarnación appeared to injure his hamstring on this play pic.twitter.com/mp20mOecto
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 6, 2025
“You get hurt in spring training, you’re playing catch-up all the time,” Giants manager Bob Melvin told reporters, including Joaquin Ruiz of NBC Sports Bay Area, about Encarnación after the game. “We get him back here the first time, and now he finally gets enough at-bats, we see the type of at-bats we’ve been wanting from him — especially off of left-handed pitching.
“And he’s going to be down for a while now, unfortunately.”
Two innings before his injury, he hit a 442-foot solo homer off Pirates starter Andrew Heaney, his second home run in as many days. Encarnación’s power is what led the Giants to sign him to a minor league contract in May 2024. Beforehand, the 27-year-old hit an absurd .366/.439/.989 with a 1.429 OPS, 19 home runs and 36 RBI in just 26 games with the Mexican League’s Guerreros de Oaxaca.
Encarnación logged 35 games with the Giants at the major league level last season after a 23-game stint with the Miami Marlins in 2022. He hit .248/.277/.425 with five homers and a .702 OPS.
For a team scuffling to score runs, Encarnación’s short return to the Giants almost feels like a prank that no one in their clubhouse likely finds humorous. San Francisco ranks 21st in Major League Baseball with 481 runs scored this season, and just four teams have hit fewer home runs (109) than them.
Once again, Melvin and his coaching staff must find a way to cope with the loss of Encarnación as the Giants sit five games behind the New York Mets for the third and final National League wild-card spot.
WBN DR: https://worldbaseball.com/league/dominican-republic/
Photo: San Francisco Giants’ Jerar Encarnacion hits a solo home run off Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Andrew Heaney during the fifth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
