Historic homer bat breaks, but Panik isn’t upset

There were no tears, “Wonderboy” was not engraved on the splintered bat and Joe Panik did not turn to a kid and say, “Pick me out a good one, Bobby,” namely because the bat boy was not named Bobby.

In his ninth at-bat of the season March 31, Panik singled off Dodgers right-hander Kenta Maeda and broke the Louisville Slugger model T-141 bat that he used to homer in his third and seventh at-bats to give the Giants a pair of 1-0 victories in Los Angeles.

“A bat is a bat. It’s something you can easily replace,” Panik said Saturday. “It’s not like, ‘OK, bat’s done, I’m done.’ ”

Indeed, Panik used a different bat to homer against Mariners lefthander Marco Gonzales in his second AT&T Park at-bat of the season Tuesday in the home opener.

Panik is not superstitious about his bats. No matter how many hits a bat has produced, if the pine tar on the handle gets too thick he will scrape some off so the 33 ½-inch, 31-ounce piece of lumber feels right in his hands.

Although Panik became the first player in major-league history to homer for the only runs in back-to-back 1-0 victories, the Hall of Fame did not come calling for the bat, or the one he used to become the first player to hit solo homers for his team’s first three runs of a season. Shark tale: Jeff Samardzija (strained pectoral muscle) threw 40 pitches in the batting cage Friday and will pitch in the first of two planned minor-league games Monday, actually at extended spring training in Arizona. Lefthander Will Smith (Tommy John surgery) will start the game.

The calendar seems to favor a Samardzija return during an April 17-19 series in Arizona. The 17th falls on the day the April 11 spot starter would pitch again. That might be too soon after a second game in extended spring. But an April 16 day off will permit Bochy to insert Samardzija wherever in the rotation he chooses.

As for the spot starter, Bochy said it would be Andrew Suarez or Tyler Beede, who both pitched in the minors Thursday. Beede is on the 40-man roster. Suarez isn’t.

“That does come into play sometimes,” Bochy said. “I don’t think in this case it will make a difference. We’re going to put our best guy out there.” Briefly: The Giants and Dodgers will meet 10 times by May 1. The only other teams to do that were the 2003 Orioles and Rays . ... Posey’s most recent homer before Saturday was Aug. 8, at AT&T Park, against Cubs left-hander Jose Quintana.