Bumgarner pulled with unusually low pitch count, bullpen costs Giants in seventh straight loss

MIAMI — Twelve years ago, the Giants selected a left-handed pitcher out of South Caldwell High School in North Carolina with the 10th overall pick in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

This Monday, the Giants will again be on the clock with the 10th pick in the first round and they can only hope to choose a player who pans out like ace Madison Bumgarner did.

For the last decade, Bumgarner has continually put the Giants on his back and carried them past various finish lines. On Wednesday against the Marlins, Bumgarner was asked to pass the baton far earlier than usual.

“He was gassed from the third inning on,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Every start is a little bit different.”

After throwing just 81 pitches in six-plus innings, Bumgarner was yanked following a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh of a 4-2 Giants loss. Reliever Mark Melancon entered, allowed the inherited runner to score and gave up an additional insurance run to Miami as San Francisco suffered its seventh consecutive defeat.

“I brought in a good reliever and then they threw out some good at-bats, so that’s a tough one,” Bochy said. “No question. That hasn’t happened a lot but occasionally it has where I have to take care of a starter.”

Bumgarner agreed with Bochy’s decision, noting that he felt it would be a physically exhausting night from the time he began to warm up for Wednesday’s start.

“I think we both felt like that was the best thing, I’d back (Bochy) up on that,” Bumgarner said. “I don’t really have a reason for it, I wish I did, but there’s certain times throughout the year where you feel really good and sometimes where you don’t.”

The Giants held a team meeting prior to Wednesday’s game to address a series of blowout losses that left them with the worst run differential (-86) in the National League, but it didn’t appear to light a fire under a team that’s clearly missing a spark. Though the Marlins opened the series with a 3.5-game cushion for the worst record in the NL, back-to-back Giants losses have inched them closer to the league’s cellar.

Brandon Belt scored the Giants’ first run against Marlins starter Pablo Lopez as he launched a towering solo shot for his team-leading eighth homer of the year in the top of the fifth, but they didn’t score again until after Sam Dyson gave up an eighth inning run to give the Marlins a 4-1 lead.

Former Giants closer Sergio Romo recorded the 120th save of his career and his first against his old club, allowing hits to Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval before Belt picked up his second RBI on a groundout.

Bumgarner has spent the last dozen years in the Giants’ organization and on Wednesday against the Marlins, he made his 12th start of the 2019 season. In all likelihood, the free agent-to-be won’t make 12 more in the same uniform.

The future for the Giants’ ace remains as unclear as it is for the franchise as a whole.

Bumgarner’s quality start against the Marlins marked his eighth of the year and the 177th of his career, but it marked just the fourth time he’s thrown 81 pitches or fewer in a quality start. Two of those outings came in 2010 during his rookie season while his most recent came after he exited when he felt tightness in his right side in a September, 2018 outing against the Rockies.

Prior to Wednesday’s outing, Bumgarner had thrown at least 92 pitches in each of his 12 starts and had tossed 100 or more in seven consecutive games.

“Sometimes you know you might have to get deeper into the game and today was one of those where I really felt like I should have and I wanted to,” Bumgarner said. “But at the same time, we’re trying to win any way we can.”

The sturdy left-hander doesn’t know where he’ll be spending the final two-plus months of his season and for the most part, the Giants don’t know which pitchers will finish the year in their rotation. At this point next year, half of the 25 and 40-man rosters will have likely turned over.

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi understands he’ll receive criticism from a significant portion of the Giants’ fan base if he deals Bumgarner, but as the season evolves, it’s increasingly clear the organization must address a farm system that hasn’t produced many fruitful assets of late.

If the Giants part ways with Bumgarner this summer, they’ll hope a prospect or two can fortify the next core group of players ascending through their system. The brightest pieces of their future puzzle currently reside at Single-A San Jose, where catcher Joey Bart, outfielder Heliot Ramos and pitchers Sean Hjelle and Jake Wong are in the beginning stages of their professional development.

Next week, Zaidi will open the first draft of his tenure with the goal of adding another headliner to that unit. The last time the Giants chose at No. 10, it worked out alright.