Giants' Hunter Pence has broken arm, out up to 2 months

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The San Francisco Giants will be without outfielder Hunter Pence for the next two months after he suffered a broken left forearm Thursday.

Pence was hit by a pitch from Corey Black of the Chicago Cubs in the sixth inning of Thursday's Cactus League game and was taken to the hospital for X-rays.

Manager Bruce Bochy feared the arm was broken, and the club later announced Pence suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left ulna bone.

"He was trying to move out of the way and (the pitch) kinda ran and got him there," Bochy said. "I guess the silver lining is that it is early in the spring so at least we'll have a month to start the healing process."

Pence played all 162 games each of the past two seasons for the Giants and was a key performer in last year's championship run, hitting .444 in the World Series with a home run and five RBI against the Kansas City Royals.

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The Giants are already dealing with depth issues in the outfield as center fielder Angel Pagan is recovering from back surgery. With Pence out, they'll likely have Gregor Blanco move from a backup at all three outfield positions to starting in Pence's right field spot.

Juan Perez, Travis Ishikawa and Gary Brown could also see playing time, but none of them can come close to Pence's contributions.

Pence's injury, combined with the free agent departures of third baseman Pablo Sandoval and outfielder Michael Morse, means the Giants will start the season without three of their top four home-run hitters from last season. Pence, who turns 32 in April, has a .780 OPS in three seasons with the Giants.

Contributing: Lawr Michaels