Madison Bumgarner

After he gave up nine runs in four innings of work in a rehab start for the Giants’ A affiliate on Wednesday, manager Bruce Bochy is still confident left-hander Madison Bumgarner will return to the team’s starting rotation in the near future. Bumgarner started for the A San Jose Giants on Wednesday evening and navigated through three innings while giving up a lone run against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. But in the fourth inning, Bumgarner imploded, allowing eight runs on eight hits including three home runs, two of which were hit by Dodgers’ prospect D.J. Peters.

Madison Bumgarner probably hadn’t heard the name D.J. Peters before Wednesday evening. Chances are, Bumgarner won’t remember Peters’ name much beyond Wednesday anyway. But in the fourth inning of Bumgarner’s rehab start in San Jose, the right fielder for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes did his best to leave his name etched in the left-hander’s memory.

In the midst of his 13th season with the San Francisco Giants, right-hander Matt Cain started the team’s Independence Day contest at Comerica Park in Detroit under remarkably different circumstances than the last time Cain pitched in the Motor City. On Tuesday, a struggling Cain took the ball for the Giants nearly five years after he started Game 4 of the 2012 World Series against the Tigers, a game that extended into 10 innings before San Francisco clinched its second championship in three seasons.

There aren’t many sellouts in the Pacific Coast League, but there aren’t many opportunities for fans of AAA baseball to watch Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner made his second rehab start since suffering a shoulder sprain in a dirt-biking accident in April, and after throwing three hitless innings in the Arizona Rookie League last Sunday, the Giants’ left-hander battled through an up-and-down effort against the Fresno Grizzlies.

Heliot Ramos had never seen anything like it before. Even though the 17-year-old first round draft choice of the San Francisco Giants has been on the radar of professional scouts for the better part of his teenage years, Ramos was in awe of what transpired in San Francisco Tuesday afternoon.

After Jacob deGrom threw eight innings of one-run ball against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday afternoon, it’s easy to see why the Giants miss Madison Bumgarner. At this point, the Giants need another power threat in their lineup, and on Sunday morning, San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy delivered good news.

For the first time since 2007, the San Francisco Giants used their top three draft choices on high school prospects, opting for a pair of power bats and a live left-handed arm with their first three selections. On Tuesday, the Giants were able to get one of those choices under contract, as Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported that San Francisco signed its third round draft choice, left-handed pitcher Seth Corry.

It’s the middle of June, and already, the Giants don’t have much to play for. Less than halfway through the season, rare is the day when Giants players can wake up in the morning and head to the park with a sense of urgency, as the chance to play “must-win” ballgames will elude them in 2017.

Giants’ catcher Buster Posey wasn’t healthy enough to run the bases on Friday night. But the team’s best hitter still managed to put a scare in Rockies’ closer Greg Holland. A night after exiting Thursday’s game with a sore ankle, Posey pinch-hit for Kelby Tomlinson in the top half of the ninth inning with the Giants hoping to mount a rally.

The Giants’ recent struggles can be traced directly to their inability to put together consistent at-bats at the plate, but that doesn’t mean the team is solely focused on improving its hitting. On Wednesday, manager Bruce Bochy indicated the team is closer to having ace Madison Bumgarner on the hill as Bumgarner continues to progress from a shoulder injury suffered in late April.