Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers send Tony Gonsolin to the mound on Thursday to try to complete the sweep of the Padres, but that isn’t nearly the most intriguing pitching matchup of the evening. Believe it or not the baseball gods have seen to it that the fate of the Dodgers’ divisional aspirations lies squarely in the hands of. . . Madison Bumgarner?
Strange as it may seem, it is true. As fate would have it, Bumgarner gets the ball tonight for the Arizona Diamondbacks as they try to salvage the final game of their series against the Giants at Oracle Park. Yes, the same Madison Bumgarner who has no love lost for the Dodgers. The same Madison Bumgarner who got bent out of shape when Max Muncy hit a ball into McCovey Cove. The same Madison Bumgarner who infamously took a Yasiel Puig ground ball and turned it into a bench-clearing brouhaha a few years ago. Yes, that Madison Bumgarner.
It will be Bumgarner’s first time pitching at a full Oracle Park since he left the Giants to sign with the Diamondbacks during the 2019 offseason. This will be the second time that Mad-Bum has toed the rubber against his former team this season. In August, Bumgarner made one of his best starts of the entire year when the Giants came into Chase Field.
He went seven strong innings and only surrendered one earned run on six hits. That night, he outdueled his old teammate Johnny Cueto as the D-backs got a rare win against the Giants. Here’s hoping Bumgarner will bring that same competitive intensity to this one that he usually brings to games against the Dodgers. In the game tonight, the Giants’ will send out good ol’ Scott Kazmir (and we do mean old) to the mound to counter Mad-Bum. The ex-Dodger Kazmir has had his moments for the Giants’ so it will be a fascinating thing to watch out of the corner of our eye as we try to put the broom to the Padres. Go Bumgarner! There I said it, and it didn’t even feel weird.
