Madison Bumgarner’s long road back to the Giants from a broken pinky finger may finally end next week.
According to NBC Bay Area, manager Bruce Bochy said Tuesday that Bumgarner will throw 70-75 pitches in a rehab start for the San Jose Giants before immediately rejoining the team. If that timeline actually comes to fruition, Bumgarner will be in line to pitch for the big-league club next Tuesday against the Diamondback at AT&T Park.
Bumgarner will throw 70-75 pitches for San Jose on Thursday and then pitch for Giants next Tuesday at AT&T Park.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) May 29, 2018
"It's just giving him another start to where he can be more stretched out and we don't have to be careful with him," Bochy said. "If you go back, we were talking about three (rehab starts originally), so he's still ahead of schedule."
Bumgarner, who suffered his injury March 23 in a spring training game, impressed in his latest rehab start with Triple-A Sacramento with eight strikeout in 3 2/3 hitless innings.
San Francisco could certainly use a jolt as the team is 3-7 in their last 10 games and currently sit fourth in the NL West with a 25-30 record.