SAN FRANCISCO — The day Giants fans have waited for all season long is finally here: Madison Bumgarner’s return.
After missing the opening nine weeks of the season with a broken left pinky, the Giants ace will make his first start of the 2018 MLB season Tuesday night against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
“We are very excited he is starting,” Bruce Bochy said pregame. “It’s good to have him back. It has been a while since the last start in spring training, but he is ready to go. It’s good news for us. I know he is excited about it. It’s always great to have your guy back. He is one of those guys we need to help us get to where we want to go.”
Bumgarner’s last major league start — on Sept. 23, 2017— seems like a lifetime ago. The opening 60 games of the 2018 season were stripped from Bumgarner when he suffered a broken left pinky in his final spring training start.
Since he was placed on the 60-day disabled list, he has slowly eased his way back into the fold without suffering any known setbacks. He recently made a pair of rehab starts, allowing only one run, two hits, one walk, and striking out 15 batters in total, before the Giants activated him ahead of his 2018 MLB debut Tuesday.
Bochy said he will govern Bumgarner’s pitch count, which is not expected to exceed 90 pitches Tuesday night. Now that he is back, however, Bochy foresees Bumgarner pitching without setbacks or restrictions moving forward.
With San Francisco sitting at 30-30, courtesy of a five-game winning streak, Tuesday night somewhat feels like a clean slate. The general assumption was if the Giants stayed afloat until Bumgarner returned, it would be a major victory. They have done that.
The Giants have salvaged one injury after the next to trail the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks by only 1.5 games.
“We could have let this get away from us with all the injuries,” Bochy said. “(There have been) some tough periods we have had during the season with those losing streaks… To be where we are at right now, we are not happy with it or content with it. I think you look at what we have had to go through— OK, we will take it.”
The Giants are still without starting pitcher Johnny Cueto, who continues to recover from a sprained elbow. Bochy said Cueto is no longer feeling pain, that he will throw a bullpen session Friday, and to expect the right-hander to return to the major league club by the end of June. Jeff Samardzija (shoulder stiffness) is also expected to return to the lineup shortly.
The Giants starting pitching staff started the season well, but started to crack recently. San Francisco’s starters’ collective 4.59 ERA is the 10th worst in the majors.
Bumgarner’s return comes at the perfect time.
“This is a good day for us to have him back,” Bochy said about Bumgarner. “Compared to where we were, we are in better shape than we have been all year now, with Bum going tonight.”
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