With the Diamondbacks' rotation largely in flux, one of the few certainties has been Madison Bumgarner every fifth day. His past five starts had been stellar: as we documented previously, by some standards, it was the best ever spell by any Arizona pitcher. He had looked almost in complete control throughout. This evening was considerably more of a struggle, with Madison's command being a battle of wills. More concerning, he then left the game after four innings, under rather murky circumstances.
In his half of the first, Bumgarner worked around a two-out walk, getting Albert Pujols to fly out harmlessly in his first plate appearance since coming down the freeway from the Angels.