By Janie McCauley
Associated PressSAN FRANCISCO ó Chase Headley homered and singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the San Diego Padres spoiled an impressive major league debut by San Francisco starter Madison Bumgarner with a 4-3 victory over the Giants on Tuesday.
Will Venable hit a tying solo homer in the sixth.
Bumgarner was called up from Double-A Connecticut and pitched in place of injured Tim Lincecum. He is nursing inflammation in his back, and the Giants expect him to make his next turn in the rotation.
Bumgarner, a left-hander who attended South Caldwell High School, walked off to a standing ovation and tipped his hat to the crowd after giving way to Brandon Medders with one out in the sixth.
Bumgarner gave up the two homers for his lone runs. He struck out four and walked one, throwing 76 pitches and 48 for strikes.
He knelt down moments before throwing his first pitch, then received a quick pep talk from second baseman Freddy Sanchez. Bumgarner threw a 91 mph strike on his first offering, then got Everth Cabrera on a comebacker on a full count for the first out.
Kevin Kouzmanoff’s drive leading off the fourth tied the game at 2, then Eugenio Velez’s infield single in the bottom half put San Francisco ahead. Venable’s homer in the seventh made it 3-3.
Bumgarner, 20, found out about 31/2 hours before the first pitch that he would be starting.
He was a combined 12-2 between Double-A Connecticut and Class-A San Jose this year and had gone 5-0 since his lone loss for Connecticut on June 13.At 20 years and 38 days, Bumgarner became the fourth-youngest San Francisco pitcher to make his big league debut and the second-youngest as a starter behind Mike McCormick. McCormick was 17 years, 342 days when he debuted in 1956.
One fan wearing Lincecum’s No. 55 jersey taped a piece of paper with Bumgarner’s name over Lincecum.