SF Giants: When will Evan Longoria return from injury?

SAN FRANCISCO — The long-awaited activation of Evan Longoria didn’t come before the Giants’ opened a four-game series Thursday against the Colorado Rockies, but manager Gabe Kapler is still confident that he’ll get the second of his two All-Star third basemen back this series.

Longoria, shelved since early June with a shoulder injury, is back from a rehab assignment and was eligible to be activated Wednesday. But he remained off the active roster, running the bases and taking ground balls prior to Thursday’s game, while working his way back to full strength.

“We’re going to keep talking to him about how his body’s healing and recovering,” Kapler said. “When we do activate him we want him to feel like he’s at his best, like he can play back-to-back games for us.”

The Giants discussed adding Longoria to the roster before their game Friday, but Kapler didn’t rule out waiting until Saturday or Sunday.

Longoria injured his shoulder when he collided with shortstop Brandon Crawford while pursuing a popup in a 4-3 win over the Cubs on June 5. Before he landed on the IL, Longoria had been another Giants veteran experiencing a renaissance at the plate: a .280/.376/.516 slash line, his best on-base-plus slugging percentage since 2012.

Longoria has yet to share the field with Kris Bryant, the Giants’ biggest splash at the trade deadline and a third baseman by trade himself. With Bryant’s ability to play both corner infield positions and all three outfield spots, though, Kapler won’t have any trouble getting both players in the lineup.

With a .308/.372/.487 slash line in 10 games since being acquired from the Cubs, Bryant has given the Giants just what they needed at third base — and left and center field, too, sometimes in the same game.

That doesn’t mean the Giants don’t miss Longoria every day he’s not in the lineup.

“I think Longo always makes our roster better,” Kapler said. “We want him back on it as quickly as possible. And he wants to be back on it as quickly as possible.”