DENVER — After sitting out Tuesday’s game with right wrist pain, Kris Bryant is back in the Giants’ lineup two days ahead of a highly anticipated return to Wrigley Field.
Bryant was removed from Monday’s game at Coors Field a few innings after laying out in the outfield and landing awkwardly on a wrist that has caused him occasional pain dating back to high school. The Giants slugger said he fell off a cart in high school and hurt his wrist, which has led to sporadic issues through the years but has never kept him off the field for long periods of time.
Bryant is batting fifth and playing third base in the Giants’ series finale against the Rockies on Wednesday and will have a day off Thursday before returning to Chicago to play against the only major league team he’d ever known prior to the July 30 trade deadline.
Bryant spent the first seven seasons of his career in Chicago, winning the 2016 National League MVP and the 2016 World Series while also earning four All-Star nods. The Cubs traded Bryant and fellow stars Javier Báez, Anthony Rizzo and Craig Kimbrel at this year’s deadline in blockbuster deals designed to restock Chicago’s farm system.
“I look at the team and it’s kind of a brand new team,” Bryant said of the Cubs. “They’re all establishing their identity and they’ve had some ups recently and some downs, but it’s been pretty cool to see from afar. Some new guys stepping up and the fans appreciating them.”
The Cubs had won seven consecutive games before falling 4-3 to the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday and have received impressive contributions from a number of players who are receiving much more playing time now that Bryant, Báez and Rizzo are elsewhere. The two prospects the Giants sent to Chicago in the trade to acquire Bryant, Alexander Canario and Caleb Kilian, are both in the minor leagues.
Bryant was on a road trip with the Cubs when he was traded to San Francisco and said returning to Wrigley Field this weekend will give him closure he wasn’t able to get at the deadline.
“From the very beginning of the season there was a lot of talk of (a trade) and it finally happened on the road and there was a lot of stuff going on so I didn’t really get that closure,” Bryant said. “It is nice to go back so quickly and say bye to some of the people that I didn’t get a chance to say bye to like the workers and staff at the field and the security and people who made mine and my family’s lives so much easier over the years.”
