Denard Span (shoulder) played in a minor league game Thursday, Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports.

Span (shoulder) played in a minor league game Thursday, Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports.

Analysis:

This is a very positive development considering Span was forced to leave Wednesday's game after landing on his sore left shoulder. It's unclear when he'll be able to return to manning center field, but it's a good sign that he can continue to amass at-bats going forward even if he isn't in the field.