Thursday BP: Michael Conforto is day-to-day

Happy Thursday, San Francisco Giants fans. The Giants may have dropped the game and series to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday — their first series loss since losing three of four against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 11-14 — but they still got some good news.

Outfielder Michael Conforto, who suffered a heel injury on Tuesday that got worse overnight, had an MRI come back clean. He’s being listed as day-to-day, and is optimistic that he can avoid the Injured List.

For a while it certainly looked like Conforto was bound for the IL, and the replacement options aren’t ideal. But now things look better.

That’s huge news for the Giants, as Conforto was not only their best offensive player in May, but one of the best in all of baseball. For the month, the lefty slugger hit 26-90 with seven home runs, two doubles, 11 walks, and just 20 strikeouts, for a .916 OPS and a 148 wRC+. The Giants are already banged up with infielder Thairo Estrada, catcher Joey Bart, designated hitter Joc Pederson, and pitcher Ross Stripling on the 10-day IL, so losing one of the key pieces of their lineup would have been quite a hit.

The Giants have an off day today, and aren’t traveling, which gives Conforto a little bit of time to heal up before they kick off a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night. Hopefully the injury updates keep being positive.

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants are off today, but return tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m. PT.