SAN FRANCISCO -- Hunter Pence was walking around with a bat in his hands on Thursday morning. The good news? It was his bat.
Pence has graduated from whiffle bat to fungo bat to his own heavy piece of lumber, and he's taking swings off a tee. Manager Bruce Bochy said Pence was scheduled for an easy rehab day Thursday, but he'll ramp it up when the Giants go on the road over the next week.
"He's making progress and it's starting to come now as far as improvement," Bochy said. "That's a good sign ... He's on his way."
Pence will miss the May 1 date that was a soft target when he fractured his forearm the first week of spring games, and Bochy said there still is no exact timetable for the right fielder's return to the lineup.
"Once we get him to the point where he starts playing (rehab) games, it'll be a little easier to give him a target date," Bochy said.
Pence has been running and throwing most afternoons, and his bone is said to be nearly fully healed.
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Bochy said he would talk to Roberto Kelly about the controversial play in the ninth inning Wednesday. Kelly ended up too close to the bag and Gregor Blanco crashed right into him, but the umpire ruled that there was no interference. The Dodgers felt otherwise.
"I think it's a great no-call," Bochy said. "He didn't assist him."
Bochy said the collision is something that happened to him when he was coaching third in the minors, and he remembered longtime third-base coach Tim Flannery getting run over by Steve Finley one time.
"There's not a third-base coach that that hasn't happened to," Bochy said.
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Jake Peavy played catch for the second straight day, but there's no timetable for the right-hander who is dealing with back and hip problems.
"I talked to Jake for quite a bit this morning; he's doing better," Bochy said. "I do want to slow play him a little and not rush him back like we probably did (for his first start) in San Diego."
