Span’s absence leaves hole

DENVER — Center fielder Denard Span was happy Sunday that he could move his arm around and take his own shirt off. That does not sound like a man who is playing anytime soon, although he and the team consider his status day-to-day.

Span said he sprained the sternoclavicular joint near his right collarbone when he crashed into the center-field wall Saturday night while catching a Charlie Blackmon drive. He hurt the same joint making a diving catch for the Twins in 2012 and missed two weeks.

Span said when he hit the wall his mind had a “quick flash” to Jarrett Parker’s collarbone fracture, but “then I realized I wasn’t in as much pain as he seemed to be. It definitely felt like something was jabbing me in that area.”

The Giants were left with one center fielder, Gorkys Hernandez, who started Sunday. Asked who his backup center

fielder was, manager Bruce Bochy said, “I guess it’s (Hunter) Pence.”

Bochy said the Giants are not going to wait long to decide whether to place Span on the 10-day disabled list. A team can play only so many games with one center fielder.

It seems inevitable the Giants will have to bring up an outfielder from Triple-A. The most likely candidate is former Rockie and Red Drew Stubbs, who is not much of a hitter (despite homering in each of the past two games for Sacramento) but plays center. Bochy said River Cats manager Dave Brundage told him in a phone call Sunday morning that Stubbs looks

“real good” in center.

Mac Williamson and Michael Morse have just started to play at Sacramento while rehabbing leg injuries. The Giants will not bring either up until they are what Bochy termed “major-league ready.”

Briefly: Brandon Belt played left field, using a glove he borrowed from coach Chad Chop, who got it as a gift from Tim Lincecum. For the final two innings, Belt moved to right, where he previously had one inning of big-league time. … One measure of how powerless the Giants are: Nick Hundley, who has started just nine of their 17 games, leads the team with seven doubles. Bochy hopes to keep Hundley’s bat in the lineup against the three lefties who will start for the Dodgers, perhaps at first base. Hundley has not played there in his major- or minor-league career . ... Brandon Crawford is in a 6-for-39 slump. … Buster Posey has two RBIs this year.