SF Giants' Nate Schierholtz closes his stance

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Nate Schierholtz, who won Wednesday night's 14-inning game with his second home run, revealed a little secret. He was using Miguel Tejada's bats during his hot spell at the plate as he awaited a shipment of his own model.

That, though, is not the main reason Schierholtz batted .395 with a 1.058 OPS in his first 10 games since the start of the Chicago-Detroit trip. Before that, he was at .251 and .706.

On the off day before the trip, Schierholtz looked at video of some good left-handed hitters in the majors and decided to close his stance. He would not say if he chose to adopt a particular hitter's stance, but he did say the change has made a difference.

"I feel like I'm seeing the ball a little better lately," Schierholtz said. "I'm staying relaxed a little more. With the open stance, I was drifting forward too much. Everything was just forced a little too much. I wasn't getting my foot down in time."

Schierholtz felt bad about breaking a couple of Tejada's bats, but now he does not have to. His shipment arrived Thursday.

No Belt: The Giants activated Brandon Belt from the disabled list, more than five weeks after a pitched ball fractured his left wrist, and immediately optioned him to Triple-A Fresno. Manager Bruce Bochy indicated there was no room for Belt on the 25-man roster and said it was "hard to say" when the Giants will promote Belt.

"He's playing down in Fresno, getting playing time, which he needs," Bochy said. "If something happens here, he's available. We don't need him now. It's not that I don't want to see him. He's a nice player to have available when we do need him."

Briefly: Bochy said Mike Fontenot's activation from the DL is in a "holding pattern" because he is not physically ready to return from a groin strain. ... Buster Posey exercised on a stationary bike Wednesday for the first time since his injury, even with a protective boot over his left ankle. "It was nice to get a little sweat going," Posey said.

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