Giants lose Madison Bumgarner, Jeff Samardzija to big injuries

Giants ace Madison Bumgarner has a broken left hand and fellow starter Jeff Samardzija has a pectoral strain, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Buster Olney of ESPN says sources told him that Bumgarner will be out 6-8 weeks, while Schulman says that Samardzija will be sidelined for three weeks to a month.

Bumgarner suffered his injury after being struck with a line drive from the Royals’ Whit Merrifield on Thursday during the third inning of their spring training game — the final one for Bumgarner before he was scheduled to start for the Giants on Opening Day next week.

This is the second major injury for Bumgarner in less than a year after missing about three months of the season in 2017 due to a Grade 2 sprain and bruised ribs, which he suffered in a dirt-bike accident during the team’s off day in Colorado on April 20. The injury put him on the list of weird injuries that have happened to baseball players. The 28-year-old Bumgarner went 4-9 with a 3.32 ERA, a 1.09 WHIP while striking out 101 batters and only walking 23 in 17 starts.

While Olney’s sources gave a timeline, Schulman says Bumgarner will have to have pins inserted into his hand “to stabilize the fracture in the fifth metacarpal.” Those pins have to stay in his hand for four to six weeks. Bumgarner said the injury wasn’t “life-threatening” and hopes he can be back before the All-Star break.

As for Samardzija, he was diagnosed with his injury on Thursday after leaving a minor-league start on Wednesday.

With Bumgarner and Samardzija both out, the Giants only have four starters currently in Johnny Cueto, Chris Stratton, Ty Blach and Derek Holland. Until one of them comes back, they will have to bring up a pitcher in their farm system, unless they decide to sign an arm for cheap or trade for one.