As September arrives, the Giants are clinging to playoff hopes in the absence of injured right fielder Hunter Pence.
While one player wouldn’t seem to have such an undue effect on his team’s winning and losing, consider this: San Francisco has won two of every three games Pence has started this year (34-17, .667), but after last night’s 14-inning loss to Los Angeles, the club is only 35-45 (.438) when Pence hasn’t started, due to a series of injuries: broken forearm, sore wrist and presently an oblique strain.
The Giants now trail the Dodgers by 4 1/2 games in the division and the Cubs by 5 1/2 games for the second wild card, as Pence isn’t yet close to going on a rehab assignment.