Photo credit: Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald

By Morris Phillips

Having missed more than a third of the season due to a fluke, broken bone injury, and just eight innings into his return, Madison Bumgarner was in no mood for home plate umpire Jeremie Rehak.

Sure, being resigned to not getting a win in either of his first, two starts had the ultra-intense Bumgarner feeling some type of way. That and Rehak’s confusing strike zone, a game-tying single allowed to Lewis Brinson, and the four-pitch walk issued to Justin Bour prior to Brinson’s hit that had the whole Giants’ bench chirping at Rehak.

Telling Bruce Bochy he was okay during a mound visit after the Bour walk, only to allow the Brinson single, which forced the manager’s hand, ending Bumgarner’s evening was the equivalent of the Giants star’s boiling point.

“That’s why I went out there, to make sure he was fine. He assured me he felt good, then he gave up another hit. I had no choice. It was mounting on him,” Bochy recounted.

So the pitcher had to depart, and a final message had to be sent to Rehak. Bumgarner slyly nodded, Rehak immediately responded, resulting in the first ejection of Bum’s career.

“I could tell he wanted to toss me, and I said, ‘Go ahead.’ I might’ve given him a little encouragement.”

So matter of fact, and subtle, was the moment, Bochy and catcher Nick Hundley standing on the mound awaiting the arrival of reliever Reyes Moronta didn’t know the ejection took place behind them. Bumgarner passed on a reaction, and never broke stride towards the dugout.

“It wasn’t worth going over (and confronting Rehak),” said Bumgarner.

And so went Bum. The Giants, on their way back to .500 for the 15th time this season, would soon follow. Sam Dyson coughed up a tie-breaking, two-run shot to J.T. Realmuto in the seventh, propelling the Marlins to a 7-5 win.

The loss ended the Giants’ run of eight wins in 10 games. The visitors fell to 22-5 when scoring five runs or more. Meanwhile, the lowly Marlins won at Marlins Park for only the 13th time (13-22).

“Any night you get to a tough pitcher like Bumgarner, that’s a good night, especially when we win,” Brinson said.

While Bumgarner’s ejection drew headlines, two other occurences loomed bigger. First, the Marlins overcame the Giants’ 1-0, 4-2 and 5-4 leads, tying or taking the lead each time. They hadn’t overcome three deficits and won since 2010.

That and Realmuto’s homer was a bomb, causing centerfielder Gorkys Hernandez, playing shallow, to run more than 50 feet to the wall in straight away center field only to see the ball fly 15 feet over his head at the warning track. Still, Realmuto wasn’t sure.

“I was running the bases like it wasn’t going to get out because I’ve been fooled in that part of the park many times,” he said.

After creeping over the .500 mark twice previously only to fall below it immediately after, losing the 66th game of the season with their ace on the mound was something the Giants dearly wanted to avoid. Now, winning the next three days in the home park of the NL’s worst team is the new goal.

The Giants’ three rookie starters will get a crack at the Marlins beginning with Chris Stratton facing winless Trevor Richards (0-3, 5.02) on Tuesday. Can’t take anything for granted though: the Giants were 1-5 versus Miami in 2017, and they’ve dropped eight of their last 11 contests at Marlins Park.