Giants notes: Bochy and Nunez meet, Altherr meets Merkle, lineup for Moore’s debut
Bochy and Nunez meet, Altherr meets Merkle, lineup for Moore’s debut
PHILADELPHIA— The Giants acquired Eduardo Nuñez to be their third baseman.
Manager Bruce Bochy delivered that message to Nuñez in a closed-door meeting before Thursday's series finale.
Bochy is starting Conor Gillaspie for the second consecutive game, and Bochy wanted to make sure Nuñez knew the team has confidence in him.
Buster Posey is sitting out the day game after a 12-inning night game, which means Matt Moore will throw to Trevor Brown in his first Giants start.
The Phillies' Aaron Altherr did not make it to second base on Maikel Franco's bases-loaded, game-winning ball that fell in center field in the 12th inning Wednesday night.
On Thursday, the Elias Sports Bureau ruled that Franco cannot get credit for a single because Altherr was forced at second base when Hunter Pence got the ball to Posey, who stepped on the bag for what is now ruled a forceout.
The scoring decision made no difference in the game's outcome, but Franco lost a hit and George Kontos is spared an earned run because, on the play before, Eduardo Nuñez committed an error.
Had all this occurred with two outs instead of one, Altherr would have recreated Merkle's Boner, a play in 1908 that cost the Giants a pennant and led to the last World Series title the Cubs have won.
Giants rookie Fred Merkle did not complete his run from first to second base on what should have been a pennant-winning single.
The game ended in a 1-1 tie and the Cubs won the makeup game.
The Nationals have changed their rotation for this weekend’s series, depriving us of a Sunday matchup between Stephen Strasburg and Madison Bumgarner.
Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.