Pagan fighting off age, one workout at a time

SAN FRANCISCO — Angel Pagan plays the equivalent of a doubleheader almost daily. Maybe that’s why he has the strength to excel for the Giants in the half of the twin bill he spends on the field.

On Monday, when Pagan contributed a pair of run-scoring hits to San Francisco’s 5-4 triumph over San Diego, he asked reporters seeking his postgame reaction to keep their questions to a minimum. He wasn’t being rude. Pagan simply had a pressing engagement, which became subject to a scheduling crunch resulting from the game’s three-hour, 47-minute duration.

“I just finished the game, but I have another game in the gym,” Pagan said.

Like most Major Leaguers, Pagan strictly adheres to a workout routine that doesn’t end with the game’s final out. But other players would be hard-pressed to match Pagan’s steadfast belief in his regimen, pregame as well as postgame. Pagan’s exercising helped sustain his encouraging comeback from the right knee soreness he endured last year, explaining his unshakable dedication to his program.

“Whatever I do in the gym before I go out there, whatever I do in the cage before I get an at-bat — it’s very important for me to be consistent,” Pagan said before the Giants departed for their two-city, six-game trip that opens on Friday against the Mets at New York’s Citi Field.

Pagan is obviously doing something right. He has rediscovered the form that made him the offensive dynamo that galvanized the Giants during the 2012 season, when they surged to the second of three San …

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