Giants’ Lamonte Wade Jr. heads out on rehab assignment

Lamonte Wade Jr. is edging toward his return to the San Francisco Giants, but first baseman Brandon Belt remains in something of a holding pattern.

Wade, who has received weekly injections of a synthetic cushioning agent for his right knee injury, was scheduled to start a rehab assignment with Triple-a Sacramento on Thursday. Belt also is dealing with a knee issue, and manager Gabe Kapler ruled him out for Friday’s opener against the Dodgers. Belt’s status for the rest of the weekend is unknown.

“You want to leave open the possibility that things accelerate,” Kapler said.

Belt sounded guardedly optimistic about playing in the series, saying after the game, “I’m getting close.”

The Giants will have an interesting conundrum when Wade returns, because rookie Luis González has played extremely well as the team’s third lefthanded-hitting outfielder. The Giants are unlikely to want González to be a fifth-outfielder type — they would prefer to have such a promising young player getting everyday at-bats, with an eye toward being ready in the event of any other injuries.

Steven Duggar, also a lefthanded-hitting outfielder, is getting close to being available after a stint on the 60-day IL with an oblique strain.

Brandon Crawford (quad tightness) was not in the lineup Thursday, but had a pinch-hit single in the ninth. He’s expected to play Friday.

Rotation plans: With Logan Webb working the finale against Colorado rather than pitching in the L.A. series, the Giants will start Jakob Junis on normal rest Friday night and they are listing TBD for Saturday, which likely means Sam Long starting or working the bulk of a bullpen game.

Carlos Rodón will start Sunday, getting an extra day of rest in the process.

One potential — and sensible — reason to pitch Webb on Thursday, though he is missing the L.A. series, is that Alex Cobb is eligible to return to the rotation a week from Sunday. By making Saturday’s game a bullpen game, San Francisco will need to use an all-hands-on-deck outing only once rather than twice, at least in theory.