Giants’ Madison Bumgarner set for 1st step: playing catch Friday

Giants’ Madison Bumgarner set for 1st step: playing catch Friday Manager Bruce Bochy said Bumgarner is expected to toss a ball Friday, 53 days after he separated his pitching shoulder and bruised some ribs in the accident during an off day in Colorado. Bochy also said Bumgarner will need to make five rehab appearances in the minors before he can rejoin the Giants, essentially a second spring training, which makes it unlikely he would return before the All-Star break. Bumgarner still needs to throw off flat ground several times before he can pitch off a mound. “He is seeing light at the end of the tunnel,” Bochy said. When you’ve got a man on third and you’re catching a knuckleballer, you become a goalie, not a receiver. Bochy said that before Atlanta catcher Kurt Suzuki struggled to catch R.A. Dickey over the first three innings Sunday. Suzuki was charged with a passed ball that allowed Eduardo Nuñez to score and had to dive all over the dirt to keep pitches in front of him. Buster Posey said he sympathized with Suzuki, saying, It’s not fun to hit. Suzuki has caught Dickey’s 10 starts this year and been charged with only five passed balls, three in the first game. Ruggiano went 0-for-3 against Dickey and 0-for-4 overall, but Hernandez singled twice off Dickey and had an RBI. Hernandez had the play of the game in left field, a diving catch to rob pinch-hitter Emilio Bonifacio in the seventh. … Johnny Cueto allowed five of his six hits to two batters. Matt Kemp had three hits, including a double, and Nick Markakis had two singles. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Taira Uematsu, familiar to Giants fans as the bullpen catcher who wears No. 99, is back at work after recovering from a broken hand.