Workhorse overworked?

Madison Bumgarner someday might confess he is tiring. It will be the day he sells his North Carolina ranch, buys a dozen three-piece suits and moves into a Manhattan high rise.

“I wouldn’t admit it, but I’m really not,” Bumgarner said after Sunday’ 13-4 win against Atlanta. “The stuff is the same. The delivery is the same.”

Even great pitchers look mortal at times, and for the past three starts, Bumgarner has. He has surrendered 12 earned runs in 17 innings, the most over three starts since July 2013.

At the same time, Bumgarner leads the majors with 2,949 pitches. Connect the dots? Nobody can argue with the overall numbers. Bumgarner’s 2.49 ERA, 207 strikeouts and 1.04 WHIP position him squarely in the Cy Young Award conversation. A leagueleading 1872⁄3 innings could sway voters, too.

Still, Bumgarner has not looked as sharp over the past three starts. The fastball velocity is steady, around 91 mph, but his command has not been the best. He admitted as much Sunday.

“After I threw ball one, I felt pretty good,” he said. “It felt like I threw ball one to every batter. My command was good, just not on the first pitch every at-bat. I felt good about it.”

Bumgarner allowed three runs in seven innings, his best of the past three starts. Two scored on a Freddie Freeman homer, the other after Denard Span misplayed an Ender Inciarte ball into a triple to start the game.

Manager Bruce Bochy pulled Bumgarner after five innings in each of the two starts before Sunday, which suggests Bochy did not want to overtax Bumgarner’s arm. But after the win against the Braves, Bochy scoffed at the notion.

“You’re going to have days, a couple of starts, when you’re not going to be quite as sharp, but you find a way to win,” Bochy said. “That’s what he did. He’s healthy. He’s fine.”

Panik boost: Joe Panik is hitting .340 over his past 16 games, during which he has raised his batting average and OPS by 15 and 60 points, respectively. Bochy was asked if he thought about returning the second baseman to the second spot in the order.

Bochy said no, because he is “superstitious” and does not want to mess with success.

Panik hit two homers in Sunday’s game. Asked if he ever had a two-homer game in the minors, he said, “Ooh, I don’t think so. That’s a good trivia question right there.”