SACRAMENTO -- The River Cats planned to hold batting practice in their indoors cage on Saturday afternoon. A few minutes after 4 p.m., Madison Bumgarner walked onto the field with a bat, and, well, soon enough the entire starting lineup was hitting on the field.
This night was about one man, and for Madison Bumgarner, it couldn't have gone any better. Bumgarner threw 3 2/3 hitless innings in his first rehab start, striking out eight and showing good fastball velocity and command of his whole repertoire.
The performance was so overwhelming that it's easy to imagine the Giants shredding the rehab calendar and asking Bumgarner to throw 60-70 pitches in the big leagues on Friday.