Madison Bumgarner is back. Or almost back, depending on your definition.
Bumgarner returned to the mound with the Sacramento River Cats Saturday for the first time since fracturing his pitching hand after being hit by a batted ball in spring training, and the results were encouraging, to say the least.
Bumgarner's final line: 3.2 IP, 1 BB, 8 K's, 47 pitched, 31 strikes.
Take a bow, sir ? pic.twitter.com/DkxB6DXsRi
— Sacramento River Cats (@RiverCats) May 27, 2018
In addition to his prowess on the mound, Bumgarner singled in his only plate appearance, giving him more hits at the plate than on the mound.
Bumgarner’s dominant outing may portend a return to the big leagues as soon as this week. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that despite the expectation that Bumgarner would pitch in at least one more rehab start before returning to the Giants, Bumgarner’s performance was so encouraging that the Giants might start him as soon as Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Giants would certainly enjoy having an effective Bumgarner back in the rotation, as they have struggled of late to prevent their opponents from scoring runs, giving up an average of 6.25 runs per game on their current road trip. This of course says nothing of how instrumental Bumgarner’s presence could be for the team’s confidence and psyche.