Madison Bumgarner had technically returned to Oracle Park since he joined the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019 — but never as the starting pitcher with an actual crowd in attendance.
That changed Thursday night when Bumgarner took on the San Francisco Giants, the team he won three World Series titles with (to say nothing of his four All-Star appearances).
In the top of the first inning, the Diamondbacks got off to a red-hot 3-0 start and quickly made it to the bottom of the order, meaning Bumgarner’s first on-field appearance was actually as a batter, not a pitcher. Despite the nerve-wracking circumstances for Giants fans — an early deficit and the bases loaded in a must-win game — they still found a moment to give Bumgarner a standing ovation, which he clearly appreciated.
Right before that at-bat (which resulted in a strikeout, luckily for San Francisco), Bumgarner and his old catcher Buster Posey shared a nice little moment.
Bumgarner wasn’t the only former Giants pitcher to be recognized: Matt Cain, another legend from the 2010s, was also at the ballpark. Cain retired in 2017, so he wasn’t on the field, but he did get a hearty standing ovation of his own.
The Giants actually looked like they were in danger of dropping this game but managed to secure yet another walk-off win thanks to none other than “Late Night LaMonte,” aka LaMonte Wade Jr. His ninth-inning single gave the Giants a 5-4 victory, which keeps them two games up on the Los Angeles Dodgers with three games to play.
Afterward, Bumgarner thanked the Giants crowd for the standing ovation and offered his thoughts on the team.
“It’s pretty incredible to see,” he said. “I know people have counted them out all year and a lot of people can’t understand it and make sense of it, but I’ve been on that side when people are saying the same thing, and I know how dangerous the Giants are when they get in the postseason. … There’s something about that uniform, I don’t know.”
