Madison Bumgarner’s return to Oracle Park was certainly not how he would have imagined it in February.

There were no fans in the stands Saturday to show their appreciation for his role in winning three World Series titles with the Giants and he probably didn’t imagine that a four-inning, two-run outing would be considered a step forward for him.

But, well, 2020 hasn’t gone the way anyone planned, and neither has this season gone the way the D-backs hoped as they fell, 4-3, their 14th loss in their last 16 games.

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Bumgarner, signed by the D-backs as a free agent in the offseason, made his first start since Aug. 9 when he suffered a mid-back strain and had to go on the injured list. At that time the D-backs were very much in the postseason hunt. Now, not so much.

“It felt good to just be back in a big league game,” Bumgarner said. “Even with as different as it is this year. I was just excited to be back out there and see the stuff starting to pick up a little bit for me. It was marginal, but we’re trending in the right direction, I guess, with the stuff and the way I felt and making pitches and stuff. I was pretty happy about it.”

The “stuff” that Bumgarner referred to was his fastball velocity, which had become a talking point prior to his injury.

During Spring Training, his velocity appeared to be on track with what it had been last year, but after the shutdown and restart it had dipped noticeably.

On Saturday, it was up to 88.7 mph, which, while it’s the fifth-lowest of his career, it’s still a few ticks up from where it had been this year. Coming into the game, his hardest pitch of the year was 89.3 mph and he surpassed that seven times against the Giants.

The runs Bumgarner allowed came via back-to-back homers by Evan Longoria and Darin Ruf in the second inning.

“Obviously, I made more than one mistake, but there’s one that cost me to Longoria,” Bumgarner said. “I threw it about where I wanted to. I was debating whether to throw that cutter up and in or down and in; obviously looking back I should have gone with the down and in option. The pitch to Ruf, tip your hat to him. I don’t know a lot about the guy -- trying to feel my way around the at-bat, pitched him pretty good, put a good swing on it.”

When the fourth inning was over, Bumgarner walked back to the dugout and took a seat on the bench. D-backs manager Torey Lovullo waited a minute or so before walking over and having a long discussion with the veteran.

The message: This was a good first step back, let’s get you out of there at 72 pitches and build on this for your next start.

“It just wasn't worth it to me to send him back out there,” Lovullo said. “I had a discussion with him in the dugout and he said he felt good and that's all I needed to hear. We wanted to, as I talked about a little bit in pregame, we wanted him after being on the IL to walk off the mound and feel good about the start.”

Longoria played with Bumgarner in 2018 and 2019 but had a different vantage point Saturday.

“It's always strange when you face somebody who you've played with for multiple years,” Longoria said. “I obviously have a ton of respect for Madison. I loved watching him pitch as a teammate. I loved his competitive spirit and just watching his drive to be better every time he went out there. It's always different when you face a guy on the other side, but I think at the end of the day, he's going out there trying to beat us and same thing from our side.”