Madison Bumgarner trying to halt Giants' losing streak

San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner struggled through his most recent outing seven days ago at San Diego, allowing four runs, including two home runs and suffering the loss.

The Giants have lost five consecutive games for only the second time this season and the first since mid-April. They will turn to Bumgarner on Friday night in New York against the Yankees, who send Masahiro Tanaka to the mound to oppose Bumgarner.

Bumgarner has suffered back-to-back losses as recently as late-June, but for the most part he has been a rock San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy has been able to depend on for quality starts and putting his team in position to win. We’ll see if that trend continues in the MLB Free Game of the Day on Yahoo Sports. The game will be streamed live starting at 7:05 p.m. ET on Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index and video home, in this very post or on the Yahoo Sports app. Local blackouts apply, per MLB rules.

The Yankees are fighting to stay in the playoff chase with every game already at this point in the season and they’ve been playing well of late even though they’re coming off a 4-1 loss to Baltimore. New York has won four of its past five games with questions still lingering about whether it will be a buyer or seller at the trade deadline.

Bumgarner was allowed to bat for himself that last time the Giants played an interleague game in an American League ballpark at Oakland. But with temperatures expected in the 90s at game time, it’s unlikely Bochy will allow him to hit once again. San Francisco will likely play it straight with a designated hitter against Tanaka instead.

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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo