SF Giants’ Eldridge out of lineup for second straight game with head laceration

LOS ANGELES — Rookie first baseman Bryce Eldridge was absent from the Giants’ starting lineup for a second straight day after bumping his head at the team’s hotel and sustaining a head laceration.

Eldridge, 21, was originally in Friday’s lineup before being scratched. Manager Tony Vitello said after Friday’s 8-2 loss to the Dodgers that he expected Eldridge to play on Saturday. Before Saturday’s game, Vitello said that Eldridge was “still feeling it a little bit.”

With Tarik Skubal, the reigning back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner, on the mound, Vitello said playing Eldridge didn’t really make sense.

“You always run into that risk-reward thing, and with guys that are banged up, there’s a few of them that if it was a playoff game tomorrow, they’d probably be going. But a few others not. So, for Bryce, I think it’s more let’s get past this and see how many games we have left. For him, it’d be unreasonable to play today. We’ll see what tomorrow looks like,” Vitello said.

Vitello added that the Giants have discussed placing Eldridge in the concussion protocol, but the team has not made a decision.

“Just kind of woozy, to be honest, to put it into my terms,” Vitello said.

Eldridge has been one of the Giants’ few bright spots this season, hitting .269 with 17 home runs, 23 doubles and 57 RBIs over 107 games. He’s one of three Giants in team history with at least 17 homers as a rookie who’s 21 or younger, the others being Willie Mays (20, 1951) and Orlando Cepeda (25, 1958).

Worth noting

Left-handed reliever Reiver Sanmartín was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right oblique strain, ending his season. Fellow lefty reliever Sam Hentges was reinstated from the injured list.

“Something kind of came up on him on his right side in St. Louis,” Vitello said. “Not throwing, kind of a little discomfort. … Yesterday, when he was warming up, he felt it kind of along that theme. [Bullpen coach] Jesse [Chavez] kind of called it out right away. This isn’t anything we’re going to push.”

Sanmartín, 30, finishes his first season in San Francisco with a 4.22 ERA over 21 1/3 innings with 16 strikeouts.