© Charles LeClaire | USA Today
SEATTLE – Giants fans can exhale. Brandon Belt’s injury appears to only be a hyperextended knee. Belt hurt the knee as he hustled to first base in the seventh inning of the Giants’ 3-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners Wednesday afternoon and had to be helped off the field.
Manager Bruce Bochy said Belt will receive an examination and further tests on Thursday. Bochy added that the best-case scenario for the injury is that it only keeps Belt out for two or three days.
After the game, Belt said he didn’t feel any pain when trainers checked his knee for structural damage.
Belt has been struggling recently, and is just 18-for-85 in his last 30 games. With his injury, it may give the Giants a chance to keep Pablo Sandoval in the lineup by moving him to first and potentially allow Evan Longoria to start at third base by this weekend. Sandoval is 4-for-10 in his last 10 at-bats, and Longoria is nearing his return to the major leagues after three rehab games for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats.
Longoria is scheduled to start for the River Cats tonight at third base and bat second. Bochy said he would know later in the day, after discussions with people in the Giants’ front office, what the plan for Longoria is.