2019.03.28 – Bumgarner’s strong opener spoiled – Giants fall to Padres
SF Giants Opening Day: Friday, April 5 – We Built This City (video)
2018.09.28 – Homer spoils Bumgarner’s final start – Giants fall to Dodgers
2018.09.15 – Vintage Bumgarner! Giants Shutout Rockies 3-0
2018.09.14 – Stratton pitches CG Shutout! Giants snap slide
2018.09.11 – Giants fall to history-matching 10th straight loss
2018.08.23 – Bumgarner Beats deGrom, Giants take finale 3-1
2018.08.23 – Bumgarner loses groove – Giants fall to Reds 7-1
2018.08.16 – Rodriguez to DL – Injury sustained during brawl with Dodgers
2018.07.13 – Bumgarner pitched 5K! Giants beat A’s in Battle of the Bay Opener
This guy’s pretty good at making history Congrats, #MadBum! #SFGiants
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Madison Bumgarner is Back !
Giants’ ace gets 2nd win since dirt bike accident. Giants top Cubs 3-1
Madison Bumgarner is back and he looked like his old self against the Chicago Cubs. If you wonder can he make a complete recovery from injuries sustained in a dirt biking accident? Don’t! Madison Bumgarner is back!
Bumgarner allowed four hits over seven innings to win for the second time since returning from the disabled list, helping the San Francisco Giants take two of three games from the World Series champion Cubs and won for the fourth time in five games and sixth in nine to defeat the Cubs 3-1 on Wednesday.
“Obviously there’s going to be some times when doubt creeps in,” Bumgarner said. “It’s just like anything else, you’ve got to deal with it. You can’t try to push it aside, you can’t try to trick yourself, you just try to deal with it.”
The Giants’ ace (2-5) struck out seven, walked one and gave up five hits – including a third-inning home run by Albert Almora Jr. The 2014 World Series MVP has a 1.38 ERA in his last four starts since returning July 12 after missing nearly three months because of injuries sustained on April 20th.
After three straight starts in which he lasted seven innings and allowed a combined three earned runs against a trio of National League playoff contenders– Bumgarner stood in the Giants’ clubhouse and once again answered a round of questions about the strength of his left shoulder.
Asked if his shoulder is fully healthy, with a suppressed laugh, Bumgarner joked smiled and said, “Yeah, but I’ll keep answering those questions.”
Bumgarner is a professional athlete, one who will almost certainly command $200+ million the next time he hits free agency. So even though Bumgarner has dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Arizona Diamondbacks and finally the Chicago Cubs, three of the National League’s top clubs, in a span of 15 days, he fielded questions about a shoulder injury that he regrets ever happened.
“Good, yeah,” Bumgarner said, when asked how he’s feeling. “Normal, just like I always have,” he said, when he was pressed to go deeper.
I say by now, he shouldn’t have to answer any more questions about the accident or the strength of his shoulder. Madison Bumgarner is back!
“I just think he’s shown what he’s really about with the way he’s thrown the ball because we know how good he is, but still, that was a pretty serious injury that he had to overcome,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Though Bochy has limited Bumgarner’s pitch count, a reasonable move at this juncture of the season, Bumgarner knows what he’s still capable of.
“I feel like I can throw as many as they’ll let me,” Bumgarner said. “I’m sure we all got to be smart at this point. But I feel good.”
Hunter Strickland pitched a one-hit eighth and Sam Dyson completed the six-hitter with a perfect ninth for his eighth save.
San Francisco has won consecutive home series for the first time since May. The Giants went 5-3 on a home stand that included a two-game split against Oakland and two wins in three games against Arizona. The Giants went 5-2 against Cincinnati and the Dodgers from May 11-17.
Joe Panik hit an RBI single in the second, Jarrett Parker had a tiebreaking single in the seventh against Brian Duensing (0-1) and Hunter Pence hit an opposite-field homer to right-center in the eighth against Pedro Strop.
Giants’ outfielder Hunter Pence said Bumgarner’s return in mid-July after missing nearly three months has been a turning point.
“It’s definitely not a coincidence,” Pence said. “There’s a big impact not just when he starts, but his presence alone carries a lot of confidence. That mentality seeps into everybody.”
For the second time in six days, the Giants clinched a series against a team jockeying for playoff positioning, and the San Francisco Giants did it behind Bumgarner, a pitcher whose presence goes far beyond the mound. So I say Madison Bumgarner is back!
Updated August 10, 2017.
Read more at: San Francisco Giants Media Services / More AP MLB
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
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