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.
Even though Bumgarner struggled to work his way through a lineup of young prospects, it’s entirely possible the Giants’ ace could return as soon as Saturday July 15, the team’s second game back from the All-Star break.
Bumgarner was in San Francisco on Friday to throw a bullpen at AT&T Park, and Bochy said the plan is for the lefty to make his fifth rehab start in San Jose on Monday before the Giants reevaluate his progress.
“He’s (Bumgarner) taking a bullpen today and then he’ll go back to San Jose and pitch there on Monday and increase the number of pitches that he’s going to throw,” Bochy said. “He’ll go up to the 90 area and then we’ll reevaluate him and if all goes well, he could be pitching right after the break for us.”
The California League uses a designated hitter, which means Bumgarner did not have the opportunity to hit for himself in his last start on Wednesday. With his next start also coming in San Jose, Bochy said the Giants were confident Bumgarner would get enough work in during batting practice to offset the amount of time he’s missed against live pitching.
“I talked to him (Bumgarner) today and he’s going to swing the bat today and he’ll be ready,” Bochy said. “He’s just not going to see a lot of live pitching before he sees Major League pitching. But as far as the risk of injury we’ll be comfortable with the number of swings he’ll be getting here.”
With a potential return for Bumgarner now fewer than 10 days away, Bochy said he’s not concerned by the poor results from his ace’s most recent rehab start. Instead, the Giants’ skipper is treating the rehab assignment like he would Spring Training, and looking for certain things that Bumgarner is able to accomplish to ensure he’s ready for a healthy return.
“I’ve said this so many times and it’s more about getting them ready, getting them prepared and it’s similar to Spring Training where you don’t go on results as much,” Bochy said. “You’re working on things and so I don’t pay a lot of attention to results.”