Madison Bumgarner solid in season debut for San Francisco Giants

SAN FRANCISCO — After spending the last two-plus months recovering from a broken pinkie in his left hand, Madison Bumgarner is obviously still trying to get his arm back to peak form.

The same goes for his hitting stroke.

The San Francisco Giants ace navigated through a fair amount of traffic in a solid season debut Tuesday night while getting outpitched by fellow left-hander Patrick Corbin, who earned the victory as the Arizona Diamondbacks prevailed, 3-2.

What chafed at Bumgarner wasn’t so much the eight hits and two runs he allowed in six innings, or the spotty early command that eventually got better. Rather, it was a fifth-inning strikeout with the bases loaded that gnawed at one of the majors’ top hitting pitchers, because it represented a wasted opportunity for the Giants to turn the game around.

San Francisco put just one runner on base off Corbin in the first four innings but scored on back-to-back doubles to open the fifth before loading the bases with no outs. That’s when Corbin turned to his devilish slider, which he used to strike out Bumgarner, Gorkys Hernandez and Buster Posey to quell the threat and keep the Diamondbacks ahead 2-1.

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They never trailed in ending the Giants’ five-game winning streak and preserving their one-game lead in the NL West.

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“You just gotta find a way to get a guy in, bases loaded and no outs,’’ said Bumgarner, who fouled off a hittable 2-0 fastball. “There’s no excuse for it, pitcher or not. Or at least a better opportunity than striking out.’’

That same competitiveness that made Bumgarner rue the squandered chance got him through his first start of the season without his best stuff, and it’s a quality the Giants plan to lean on now that they have their staff ace back.

Despite missing not just Bumgarner but also No. 2 and No. 3 starters Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija for extended stretches, the Giants entered Tuesday at 30-30, just 1½ games back of Arizona in the underwhelming division.

The AT&T crowd of 36,925 rose in excitement and anticipation as Bumgarner took the mound to the familiar strains of the Marshall Tucker Band’s Fire on the Mountain for the first time since mid-September, bringing a sense of optimism for a club that tied for the big leagues’ worst record last season.

“You get your guy back, it’s a lift for everybody, the rotation, the club,’’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s good to have him back. He heard the crowd, he was excited to be back. He’s only going to get stronger, build more strength and stamina. It’s still early here. That’s his third start.’’

And the first two, lasting 3 2/3 and 4 2/3 innings, were rehab assignments in the minors. So while the rest of the league is in midseason form, Bumgarner is essentially making his way through accelerated spring training.

It’s no surprise, then, that Bumgarner was hardly the imposing figure who commandeered the 2014 postseason as the Giants won their third World Series in five years. His fastball didn’t top 91 mph and his breaking pitches lacked bite early on. He didn’t get the first of his three strikeouts until the fifth inning. He elicited 10 swings and misses in 82 pitches, and only twice did he go three-up and three-down.

But what Bumgarner lacked in stuff he made up for in resourcefulness, finding success with his changeup and stranding six baserunners while escaping unscathed out of trouble in the third and fifth innings. RBI hits by Chris Owings and Kristopher Negron in the second accounted for the scoring against the big lefty.

It wasn’t a pitching performance worthy of a country song, so no need to reach out to Marshall Tucker and company, but it made for a steady first step.

“As far as the pitching goes, I’d liked to have done better,’’ Bumgarner said, “but for the first time out there I feel pretty good about it.’’

Now time to work on his swing.

Follow USA TODAY Sports' Jorge Ortiz on Twitter @jorgelortiz.