Bumgarner struggles in return to site of 'no-no'

ATLANTA -- The last time Madison Bumgarner pitched at Truist Park, he put on a masterful display in a seven-inning no-hitter in a doubleheader. In the D-backs' 5-2 loss to the Braves on Friday, the southpaw didn't have the same success.

Here's a look back at the veteran lefty's 7-inning no-no -- as well as his last start without recording a strikeout:

April 25, 2021 (7 IP, 0 H, 7 K)
Bumgarner notched his fifth straight win in Atlanta, and he did it in style. Bumgarner threw a seven-inning no-hitter in a twin bill in Arizona's 7-0 win over Atlanta.

"I think obviously he threw a great game; he threw a no-hitter last time he was here. It was a good day for us," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said, reminiscing on Bumgarner's last outing in the Peach State.

"Whether he likes pitching here or not, I'm not sure. I think it's fairly close to home for him, so he's probably gonna have a lot of fan support today. But he's always out there engaged and ready to go."

Although it wasn't an official no-hitter due to the length of the outing, it was the first time the now 32-year-old had rendered a team hitless over any length since a one-inning bullpen appearance on Sept. 19, 2009, his first Major League season.

May 4, 2022 (1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 K)
The North Carolina native walked off the mound to be inspected for foreign substances following a leadoff home run and three quick outs.

The veteran pitcher had words for first base umpire Dan Bellino at the end of the inspection, leading the umpire to promptly throw him out of the game. Bumgarner had to be restrained by coaches from further escalating the situation.

Having to exit the game after the first inning didn't allow the pitcher to get in a groove or record his first strikeout. This was the first time Bumgarner hadn't fanned a batter since Sept. 6, 2014, when he pitched six innings, giving up three runs on 10 hits to the Tigers. Until ...

July 29, 2022 (6 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 0 K)
Bumgarner entered one of his favorite places to pitch with an opportunity to win his sixth straight game in Atlanta and possibly notch an official no-hitter. Neither one of those things happened.

"You throw enough games you're gonna see a little bit of every kind of result and scenario that there is," Bumgarner said. "Unfortunately, I didn't like today's [result] very much. The last time we were here, I liked that [result] much better."

Bumgarner pitched six innings while allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits and three walks.

"I don't feel like I had a pretty good feel for anything today," Bumgarner said. "Nothing felt good, body didn't feel good, stuff didn't feel good. But I just kept trying to make pitches, and we adjusted the game plan pretty quick."

When pitchers don't have their stuff, the rest of the team has to pick them up, and the D-backs' lack of timely hitting and defensive miscues did the team no justice.

The D-backs had runners on second and third in the third inning with a chance to tie the game or take the lead, but Kyle Wright was able to get the next three batters out and get away unscathed.

"The score is 1-0, and I felt like we had a couple of good contact type of hitters that were going to execute and get the job done. We didn't do it," Lovullo said. "If you score a run or two there, it maybe reverses things a little bit, but we didn't get the job done."

In the bottom half of the inning, the snowballing began. Dansby Swanson hit a hard ground ball for a potential inning-ending double play, but Josh Rojas' throw went into the outfield, the Braves scored their second run of the game and Austin Riley collected one of his three RBIs of the night immediately after.

"If we make some plays behind [Bumgarner] defensively, if we do things that we're supposed to do and play the type of defense that I expect us to play, this game is totally different," Lovullo said. "I want to make sure that I make mention to that we got to identify a couple of things that we could have done better and certainly playing defense the way I expect us to is one of them."

The message that the veteran had for himself and the young club was, "have a short memory" and get after it the next game. Luckily for the rest of the D-backs, there are two more opportunities in Atlanta to try and win the series.