San Francisco Giants star right fielder Hunter Pence took a pitch off his left forearm Thursday afternoon in the Giants' Spring Training game with the Chicago Cubs. Pence was hit in the sixth inning on a 2-2 fastball from Cubs pitcher Corey Black. He got up after a few seconds and walked to first base. He then left the game immediately for pinch runner Mac Williamson.
MLB.com's William Boor reports that Pence suffered "a non-displaced fracture of the ulna bone in his left forearm" and will miss the next six to eight weeks, meaning that he could sit out the entire first month of the regular season.
Boor quoted Giants manager Bruce Bochy saying, "It doesn't look good," as Pence left for X-rays soon after exiting the game; those X-rays confirmed the break. After the game, Bochy discussed the the play that disabled his starting right fielder. Said Bochy,
"Hunter, he's always upbeat, optimistic. He was trying to move out of the way and it kind of ran in and caught him there, but hey, it happens. ... I guess the silver lining is it's this early in spring so that at least we'll have a month to start the healing process."
The injury will end Pence's streak of 383 consecutive regular-season games played. While this streak is certainly nothing close to Cal Ripken, Jr.'s Major League record or Steve Garvey's National League record, it was the longest active streak, and it will officially come to an end when the Giants open the season on April 6.
Pence means the world to the Giants. In addition to his power, speed, and glove, he leads the Majors in passion for the game and all-out hustle. He hit .277 with 20 HR and 74 RBI in 162 games last season and then hit .333 with 1 HR and 8 RBI in 17 postseason games as he helped the Giants to their third World Series title in the last five years, all even-numbered years from 2010-2014.