DENVER (AP) — Giants ace left-hander Madison Bumgarner was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his big league career Friday after a dirt bike accident that sent him to a hospital with bruised ribs and a sprained joint in his pitching shoulder.
San Francisco announced Bumgarner's injury Friday, a day after the accident occurred during an off day in Colorado. The Giants said Bumgarner is out of the hospital and resting at the team hotel. He is scheduled to be re-evaluated next week.
"I think the main thing is you have to be grateful he's not hurt worse than he is," Giants catcher Buster Posey said. "I don't know the timetable, I'm not sure anybody does. Just thankful he's not hurt any worse."
Also Friday, manager Bruce Bochy rejoined the team. Bochy missed a two-game series at Kansas City following a heart procedure.
The 27-year-old Bumgarner, the 2014 World Series MVP, is 0-3 with a 3.00 ERA in four 2017 starts.
Bumgarner has received just five total runs of support in his first four starts, including one run or none in three of them — and he homered twice to drive in two of those.
"We ought to just look forward and go out and play hard baseball and hopefully he'll be back before too long," Posey said.
The Bay Area sports scene has become accustomed to fluke injury stories.
Former second baseman and 2000 NL MVP Jeff Kent broke a bone in his left wrist during spring training in 2002 popping wheelies on his motorcycle, initially saying he had injured himself washing his truck. He missed the initial four games that year, when the Giants reached the World Series and lost to the Angels in Game 7.
NBA guard Monta Ellis had signed a $66 million, six-year deal with the Golden State Warriors after he averaged a career-best 20.2 points during the 2007-08 season. He then sustained a serious ankle injury that summer on his motorized scooter and missed most of the season. It cost him a 30-game suspension without pay, because he wasn't supposed to be riding such a vehicle.
In April 2011, ex-Giants lefty reliever Jeremy Affeldt — who also pitched for Colorado — sprained his right knee and went on the DL after reaching out to catch his then-4-year-old, 60-pound son when the boy jumped off the couch to greet his father. On Sept. 8 that year, Affeldt sliced his non-throwing hand while separating frozen hamburgers during a barbecue with his family on an off day. The paring knife he was using pushed through a hamburger patty and deep into his hand. Affeldt came within a millimeter of an artery and underwent surgery about eight hours later to repair nerve damage in his pinkie.
San Francisco recalled right-hander Chris Stratton from Triple-A Sacramento to fill the roster spot.