After a long stretch of filling lineup holes with backups and Quadruple-A’ers stashed in Triple-A, the San Francisco Giants are about to be whole again. Joe Panik returned to the lineup Thursday night after a month-long layoff due to a concussion, and word is that Hunter Pence could return on San Francisco.
Panik didn’t have a great first game back in the lineup: he went 0-for-4 while the Giants lost their 10th game in 12 since the all-star break. But his return was badly anticipated, as Manager Bruce Bochy inserted him into the lineup’s third spot to help give the offense a punch.