Brandon Belt suffers broken thumb after being hit by a pitch - MLB

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt was hit in the hand with a pitch from Dodgers starter Paul Maholm leading off the top of the second inning on Friday night. Belt stayed in to run the bases, but did not take his position in the bottom half of the inning. Instead, Joaquin Arias took his spot at first base while Belt was attended to in the clubhouse.

Bad news for the Giants: CSN Bay Area’s Andrew Baggarly reports that Belt has a broken thumb and will “undoubtedly” go on the disabled list for the first time in his career. Baggarly adds that an easy short-term roster solution would involve Belt going on the DL and Matt Cain coming off of it, but the Giants will want to address their first base situation regardless, which could mean Travis Ishikawa could come up from Triple-A Fresno.

Belt entered the game as one of the Giants’ most productive hitters, slashing .264/.312/.504 with nine home runs and 18 RBI.

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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”