SAN DIEGO — Madison Bumgarner took the mound with his old swagger and a new challenge to prove himself all over again.
Bumgarner’s first career trip to the disabled list, courtesy of his dirt-bike accident on that fateful off day in Colorado, shelved him nearly three months and helped turn the Giants’ season into disarray.
Returning Saturday night with his team buried in the cellar, Bumgarner threw 102 pitches over seven innings, then watched the Giants fall 5-3 to the Padres on old friend Hector Sanchez’s walk-off homer.
“There are a lot of different thoughts I have on it, the whole process,” Bumgarner said of working his way back to a major-league mound.