'It's special': Bumgarner hears ovation in SF

SAN FRANCISCO -- As he approached home plate to take his first at-bat of the game in the top of the first inning, Madison Bumgarner reached out and patted Giants catcher Buster Posey, who patted Bumgarner back.

The public address announcer at Oracle Park introduced Bumgarner, and the D-backs pitcher received a standing ovation as Posey got up out of his crouch and walked in front of the plate to let Bumgarner have his moment.

"It was really cool," said Bumgarner, who took off his helmet and acknowledged the crowd. "This place, I’ve said it a bunch, it obviously means a lot to me and my family. I don’t take that for granted, by no means. I enjoyed that and was very thankful for that. It’s special."

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That the D-backs would go on to lose, 5-4, in walk-off fashion in the ninth inning for loss No. 109 was almost beside the point, at least on the Arizona side of things. The night was about Bumgarner pitching in the ballpark where he had accomplished so much for the first time with fans in attendance since he departed following the 2019 season. (He pitched at Oracle Park without fans during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.)

"It was good to see the other side of Bum for about five seconds when he connected with the crowd and they showed that type of appreciation," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said with a smile.

After that moment, Bumgarner was back to being all business, and so was Posey.

Though Bumgarner had faced the Giants two previous times, this was the first time that Posey, his longtime catcher and close friend, was in the lineup to face him.

"We didn’t say a whole lot, either one of us," Bumgarner said of their moment at the plate. "It's not like we need to catch up in that moment. We talk plenty enough where we don’t need that moment in time to catch up or whatever. That part of it was different, for sure. Both of us probably felt about the same there."

Bumgarner got Posey to hit a tapper back to him in the first inning, but Posey got him for a sacrifice fly in the third and an RBI double in the fifth.

"I think when you have as much history with somebody as I do with him, you try not to overthink it too much," Posey said of facing Bumgarner. "I know what his tendencies are to certain hitters, and he knows that, as well. You can kind of get yourself spinning a little bit if you keep going down that path, so for me, I really tried to simplify it and see the ball and put a good swing on it.

“There were a lot of great memories that we had working together. Ultimately, I think the way we probably both view it is when I’m in the box, I’m going to compete, and when he’s on the mound, he’s going to compete. You really just leave it at that."

The D-backs gave Bumgarner a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but by the time Bumgarner left the game after the fifth, things were tied up, 4-4.

With the added emotion of the night, Lovullo decided to cut Bumgarner's outing a little shorter than usual at 79 pitches.

It was Bumgarner's final outing of the year and he finished his second season in the desert with a 7-10 record and a 4.67 ERA in 26 starts.

"It was a pretty strange one," Bumgarner said of his year. "I had a decent amount of really good games and the same amount of really bad ones. There wasn’t a whole lot of in between, I don’t feel like. Not a lot of OK ones or average games. It was either really good or really bad."

Thursday night's start was one of those rare ones in the middle. But from an emotional standpoint for Bumgarner and his fans in San Francisco, it was a really good night.