Tag: Madison Bumgarner

Giant Battle: Posey’s ninth inning single wins it, 2-1 over the Dodgers

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — 103 pitches into a terrific outing on Wednesday night, Madison Bumgarner found himself in a race he could not win.

Facing the planet’s hottest hitter, Clay Bellinger, in a 1-2 count with Kike Hernandez at second as the potential tying run, Bumgarner was either a pitch from departing with a shutout and a lead, or something a whole lot worse given he was facing a guy with a franchise-record 14 home runs in the Dodgers’ first 32 games of the season. A hot grounder down the first base line somehow didn’t elude Brandon Belt giving the first baseman a chance to record an out if he could connect with his pitcher running from the mound to the bag before Bellinger barreled down the line.

But again, Bumgarner was in a race he couldn’t win with a deceptively speedy runner determined to give his team a chance. The former World Series MVP pulled up short, conceding the hit, and taking Belt’s throw 20 feet from first, only to turn toward home and see Hernandez racing home with the tying run.

Giants’ best player in a favorable spot with a chance to win?

Not always going to work out for these punchless Giants. But this game provided a reprieve for Bum and the Giants as Buster Posey came up with a tie-breaking, ninth inning single in the team’s 2-1 win over the Dodgers.

“Just an all-around great game,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Both sides pitched so well. It was a hard-fought game. Great win for us.”

The Giants’ biggest win to date also captured the series, a nice follow-up for the last-place club after being swept by the Yankees over the weekend. The Giants have won five of nine, but it’s never easy. Four of those five wins have been by one run.

The walkoff win against the defending National League champs was the story, but so was Bumgarner. In six innings of work, he was near perfect, allowing one run on four hits, striking out eight. The fourth and sixth frames were marathons for the pitcher, but he escaped in a tie game, despite little support, a first inning, run scoring sacrifice fly from Belt.

Not the first time Bumgarner’s dealt against the hated blue, or faced some adversity courtesy of Hernandez (23 of 45 lifetime against Bumgarner with six doubles and four homers). But rarely has he looked this good, long awaited news for Giants’ fans, who still haven’t seen the pitcher defeat the Dodgers since 2016.

“Been studying stuff and trying to try different things to get to where I want to be which in my mind is a perfect delivery,” Bumgarner said. “I don’t think it’s there but it’s definitely better than it has been. Everything felt much better today than it has in a while.”

Just like Bum’s outing, the game-winning rally was tense. Steven Duggar and Gerardo Parra singled with one out, and Belt struck out with a chance to end it. Manager Dave Roberts then summoned Pedro Baez, who surrendered the searing base hit to Posey that scored Duggar despite a close play at the plate.

The Giants travel to Cincinnati Thursday in preparation for a four-game set with the Reds that starts Friday night. Tyler Beede will make his season debut in a matchup with Sonny Gray, who is 0-4 thus far for the Reds.

Bummed Out: Padres get to Giants’ ace and their bullpen in 6-5 comeback win

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Two contrasting themes of the early 2019 baseball season were reinforced on Monday night: the Giants are starting the season with a whimper, while the Padres are finishing games with a bang.

Kevin Pillar’s grand slam gave the Giants a 5-0 lead in the fourth, the first slam by a Giant in nearly two seasons. But it didn’t hold up. The Padres responded with a homer in each of the next three innings, and the visitors shocked the home team with a 6-5, come-from-behind, series-opening win.

“With the offense we have, we’re never out of a game,” said Padres’ starter Eric Lauer, who allowed the Pillar grand slam, but was still the pitcher of record when San Diego capped their rally in the seventh. “You know they’re going to produce at some point.”

Fernando Tatis Jr. homered off Bumgarner ahead of Eric Hosmer’s leadoff walk in the fifth. Will Myers also connected off Bumgarner leading off the sixth. And with the Giants clinging to a 5-4 lead, pinch hitter Franmil Reyes hit a two-run shot off Reyes Moronta in the seventh.

“I was already hyped, because what my teammates were doing. I was ready for that moment,” Reyes said.

For the Giants, Pillar’s blast was exactly what the struggling club needed, until it wasn’t all they needed. The Giants scored just 25 runs in their first 10 games, their most tepid beginning on offense since they moved West in 1958. That painfully rough start to the season prompted several roster changes. Pillar was acquired from Toronto last week, and power-hitting first baseman Tyler Austin was acquired in a trade with the Twins Monday, and immediately plugged into the starting lineup.

While Pillar’s slam represented a turnaround, the Giants’ hit total (5, three singles, double, home run) was more of the same. Lauer escaped further damage, retiring seven of the final eight batters he faced. The San Diego bullpen followed suit, retiring nine of 11. After Buster Posey doubled leading off the eighth, Brandon Crawford struck out, Evan Longoria and Yangervis Solarte grounded out. Posey’s double stood as the Giants’ only hit over the final five frames.

Bumgarner’s presence in the mid-inning collapse made it that much tougher. The Giants’ ace has made three starts, but doesn’t have a win.

“You spot him five runs, it’s a real uphill climb. Our guys made that climb today,” Padres’ manager Andy Green said. “It was really special to come back against a guy like that.”

“I feel like we played a good game,” Bumgarner said. “There was a lot of home runs. Too many home runs.”

The Padres improved to 7-4 on the season, with four of those wins against the Giants, who fell to 3-8.

Derek Holland and San Diego’s Joey Luchessi get starting assignments in Tuesday’s newfangled 6:45pm start.

WINNING MANAGERS SOUND COOL AFTER THE GAME: Of course, Andy Green does it. The 41-year old Padres’ manager doesn’t stray from character in sounding cool amongst his players, who aren’t that much younger than him. 63-year old Bruce Bochy does it occasionally, which points to the retiring manager maintaining a keen ear inside his clubhouse.

Colorado’s Bud Black does it. Clint Hurdle and Bob Melvin too. And the silver-tongued Joe Maddon might be the all-time best.

All these loquacious big league managers can succinctly recap a ballgame in their postgame pressers, and keep it fresh by sprinkling in descriptions using the newest, hottest phrasings.

Green was gushing Monday in recounting his club’s come-from-behind win over the Giants. Firstly, he championed in his starter, Eric Lauer, who Green said had “everything coming out hot” with the exception of the pitches in his fourth inning hiccup.

But Green was just getting warmed up, saving his best for describing his never-say-die, Padres’ offense.

“It starts very subtly sometimes with a very grind walk from Hosmer before Tatis hits that home run. And the bench production we’re getting is borderline ridiculous right now,” Green said. “Everybody who comes off that bench realizes they’re being deployed as a weapon and they’re impacting baseballs in a profound way. … So just a really good team win.”

 

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Bummed out–Giants and Bumgarner get shutout 2-0 in opener

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On the SF Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 Madison Bumgarner started for the San Francisco Giants on Opening Day and was able to keep the San Diego Padres’ Manny Machado under control, but the Padres still won it 2-0.

#2 The Padres’ Fernado Titas got two hits to help contribute towards the win. The Padres’ Wil Myers got a home run off Bumgarner and the Padres had a 2-0 lead.

#3 This was Machado’s first game as a Padre playing in Opening Day. Although Machado didn’t get a hit, the game was a win and it should be memorable for Machado.

#4 Padres starter Eric Lauer (1-0) pitched six innings of shutout ball against the Giants, surrendering four hits, a walk and three strikeouts.

#5 Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (0-1) pitched seven innings along with five hits and two runs and posted nine strikeouts for the loss.

Michael Duca does the Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Offense flounders as Giants drop season opener to Padres 2-0

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By Jeremy Harness

There were two positives that came out of Thursday’s season opener: Madison Bumgarner looked rather sharp and gave the Giants every chance to win, and Evan Longoria will not start the season with an extended 0-fer, which was the case in 2018.

Bumgarner surrendered only a pair of run over seven solid innings to go along with only five hits allowed. Meanwhile, Longoria went 2-for-4 at the plate, including a single in his very first at-bat of the season.

The rest of the day was rather forgettable at best, as the San Diego Padres beat the punchless Giants, 2-0, at Petco Park Thursday afternoon.

Wil Myers did all of the damage for the Padres at the plate, driving in both runs to send the Giants reeling right out of the chute. It started in the third inning, when Myers took Bumgarner deep to right-center to give San Diego a 1-0 lead.

Three innings later, he struck again, blooping in a single into shallow left-center to bring Ian Kinsler in and double the lead.

The Giants never posed a serious threat, as they never got any more than one hit in a given inning and did not get a runner safely to second base the entire game. Padres starter Eric Lauer was brilliant on Thursday, going six innings and giving up only four hits, walking only one while striking out three.

They hope to bounce back very quickly in this weekend series against the Padres by getting their bats to wake up. However, if this is any indication of things to come, it will be a very long season for the Giants.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: How Murray’s departure for football affects the A’s; Phillies’ big offer on table, will Harper sign?; How opening the season in Japan affects MLB clubs; plus more

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On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 Does Kyler Murray’s decision to leave the Oakland A’s for the NFL Draft or will he be a two sport player much like Bo Jackson and Dieon Sanders?

#2 How serious are the Philadelphia Phillies about pursuing Bryce Harper and does Amaury think they’ve got the best chance of acquiring him?

#3 How much does it take out of ball clubs when they open the season in Tokyo because of the distance the A’s open this season in Japan. Do the players enjoy the trip and do they find it productive and challenging?

#4 San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is still in the shopping sweepstakes. No deals yet, but plenty of interest.

#5 Manny Machado has an seven-year deal on the table that could be as huge as 13 years at $325 million from the Chicago White Sox. Will it be too good to pass up?

#6 White House treated the Clemson Tigers to lunch with hamburgers boxes from Wendy’s, McDonalds, and Burger King on silver platters with paper napkins and plastic containers of mustard, mayo, and ketchup. Could Trump have served better food for lunch.

Amaury does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports with Tony Renteria: Kings’ Hield helps lead with 20 points in win; Can Sharks bounce back after losing road trip?; Is the Giants’ Bum untouchable?; plus more

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On Headline Sports with Tony Renteria filling in for London Marq:

#1 For the Sacramento Kings’ Buddy Hield 20 points, five rebounds and one assist to lead the Kings to their second straight win in a row beating the Phoenix Suns 122-105.

#2 Tony has seen the Kings over the course of this season and points out what the Kings have done to win games.

#3 The San Jose Sharks are coming off a long road trip of losing four of their last five games. They got a win in their final game on the road in Montreal but losing still hurts.

#4 The San Francisco Giants have been getting plenty of inquiries regarding pitcher Madison Bumgarner. Tony talks about Bumgarner if he’s untouchable or is he on the table too?

#5 Looking at the Oakland Raiders last loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at the Oakland Coliseum, was this more of a game that was half full? The Raiders played some close ball with the Chiefs, but in the end lost 40-33.

Tony Renteria filled in for London Marq who does the Headline Sports each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Bumgarner’s walk-off single lifts Giants to 5-4 win over Padres in 12 innings

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By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Madison Bumgarner came up with the biggest hit of the night when it was needed the most.

Bumgarner, who was forced to pinch hit after there were no more pinch hitters hit a walk-off single off of Brad Wieck in the bottom of the 12th inning, as the San Francisco Giants came back to defeat the San Diego Padres 5-4 before a crowd of 36,063 at AT&T Park on Tuesday night.

The Bumgarner single off of Wieck scored Gorkys Hernandez from third base, after Hernandez tripled to lead off the inning against Wieck.

This was the first walk-off of Bumgarner’s career, and his fourth career pinch-hit with the last coming on July 21, 2016 against the Washington Nationals.

Chris Stratton went just 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking five and striking out five.

The win by the Giants stopped their five-game losing streak, as they won for just the fifth time in their last 22 games.

The Giants took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Gregor Blanco came off the bench and doubled down the left field line to score pinch-hitter Joe Panik, who singled and Hunter Pence, who singled Panik to third base. Gorkys Hernandez led off the inning with a double, but was thrown out trying to steal third base for the first out of the inning.

Unfortunately, Will Smith was unable to close it out, as he gave up a one-out double to Wil Myers and then Framil Reyes singled to score Myers.

Eric Hosmer gave the Padres the lead in that third inning, as he singled in Robbie Erlin and Myers, on the play, Hernandez to control the ball for an error that sent Reyes across the plate.

Abiatal Avelino then committed the Giants second error in as many at-bats, as he was unable to field the Hunter Renfroe ball that scored Reyes from third base.

Erlin went the minimum five innings, allowing two runs on four hits, not walking a batter and striking out four, but did not fare in the decision.

Evan Longoria gave the Giants an early 1-0 lead on a double that scored Pence, who led off the by reaching on an error by Javy Guerra.

Pence, whose contract with the Giants comes to an end on Sunday got the Giants within one run in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he hit his fourth home run of the season.

NOTES: With the victory, the Giants raise their record to 52-19 when they score four or more runs in a game.

Bumgarner is the first MLB player since Jon Lester of the Chicago Cubs to get a walk-off single without pitching in a game. Lester’s walk-off came on July 31, 2016 against the Seattle Mariners at Wrigley Field.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Padres conclude their series Wednesday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

The Giants’ Casey Kelly takes the mound, as he looks for his first win, while the Padres will Eric Lauer to the mound in the series and season finale between the two teams.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Giants Have Many Decisions to Make This Winter

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By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

The Giants could go in a new direction. Would if be towards analytics and be more creative with their player acquisitions and trades? AT&T Park will never be a home run friendly park, even if they acquired Bryce Harper; that alone might not be enough for them to contend on their division. Many decisions now rest with the new person that will take over Baseball Operations, replacing Bobby Evans, who was fired prior to the game Monday against the Padres at AT&T Park.

The Giants have $132.9 million committed in 2019, $129.4 million in 2020 and $94.1 million in 2021–just five players.

The Giants have a lot of money tied up into a handful of players and most of them are bound to return in 2019.

Next year’s Giants will have Evan Longoria, Brandon Crawford, Buster Posey (coming back for surgery), Johnny Cueto $130 million (coming back from surgery), Jeff Samardzija–$90 million, and Mark Melancon–$63 million, These players are veterans who are in their 30’s.

Yes, the Giants need to get younger. Are the Giants going to pick up the 2019 option for Bumgarner? $12 million, that is a bargain, but maybe the new General Manager/Baseball Operations that will take Evans’ place might consider trading him for a few young prospects. I would trade Bumgarner if I was able to find a few young, exciting, promising players. Why not? He is the best bait you’ll have for a nice deal.

The Giants had a good run and won three World Series, but they got melancholic with their established players,  pouring big money on them and hoping for another run, which never happened. It is understandable, as they have a great fan base and want to keep that winning style of baseball happening at AT&T Park. But the last two seasons were not exciting at all. When you do not hit in today’s game, you become a boring team.

Yes, their pitching this year surprisingly was not that bad, but this is not Soccer/Fútbol, there is no tie and you have to win. You have to hit and hit with power in today’s game. The Giants are the only MLB team this year with no player hitting at least 20 home runs. Look across the bay, that A’s team has Khris Davis, Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Stephen Piscotty, Jed Lowrie, Mark Canha, Marcus Semien and company–they all hit home runs and that is a huge part of the game and they ended up winning.

And by the way, the Coliseum–just like ATT Park–is also not a home run friendly park.

Good luck to the next man or woman who will be running the Giants’ Baseball Operations.

Giants starting to play out the string in upcoming series against the Brewers

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By Jeremy Harness

It’s quite evident that the Giants are not going to make the playoffs – Buster Posey having season-ending surgery and the team trading Andrew McCutchen after a little more than half a season more than showed they have waved the right flag – so they might as well mess things up for teams that are still contending.

They can start with this weekend’s three-game series in Milwaukee against the Brewers, which starts Friday night at Miller Park. The Giants just got finished getting their heads handed to them by the Rockies in Colorado (what else is new?) in getting swept in a three-game series at Coors Field.

So if they are going to play spoiler–or if they think they actually have a chance in grabbing a wild-card spot in the National League–they will need to get things back on track very quickly.

The Giants’ Derek Holland (7-8, 3.56 ERA) will take the ball Friday night against the Brewers’ Chase Anderson (9-7, 3.96 ERA).

Anderson has won each of his last three decisions, and in his last outing, he went five innings and gave up only a run on four hits in a loss to Washington, although he got a no-decision. Holland, meanwhile, has won each of his last two decisions, while he has spent some time in the bullpen this season.

The left-hander went six innings in a loss to the Mets at home–he got a no-decision–and he also gave up only a run and surrendered only four hits in the process.

Chris Stratton (9-8, 4.90 ERA), who has spent some time in Triple-A Sacramento this year, will go Saturday afternoon, and he will face Milwaukee lefty–and former Nationals and A’s standout–Gio Gonzalez.

Stratton has been stellar in his past two starts, although he lost his last outing in a 4-1 loss to the Mets four days ago, when he gave up only a pair of runs on three hits over six innings. The outing before, he shut out the Diamondbacks over eight innings, giving up only five hits and striking out six in a 2-0 win.

On Sunday, Madison Bumgarner (5-5, 3.07 ERA) will take the hill for the Giants and opposite the Brewers’ Zach Davies (2-5, 4.88 ERA).

Bum falters, Giants rally only to come up short at Coors Field, 9-8

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By Morris Phillips

These days, winning at Coors Field for the Giants is nearly impossible.

After landing in a huge hole–in large part due to Madison Bumgarner’s subpar outing–the Giants staged a huge rally, only to fall short in a 9-8 loss.

Are you counting? The Giants have lost 16 of 18 in Denver, and a number of those have been similar to this one. In fact, three of the six losses at Coors Field this season have been by one run.

“It was a shame we couldn’t hold on,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We really came on strong at the end.”

The Rockies put the Giants in the earliest, conceivable hole, as the first four batters of the day reached and scored, capped by Trevor Story’s two-run shot. But Madison Bumgarner’s hard to shake–even under these circumstances–and he strung together three, consecutive zeros before trouble surfaced again in the fifth.

In that frame, Story struck again, his second home run of the day putting the Rockies up 7-2. Afterwards, he admitted he just wanted to get a pitch to elevate with a pair of runners aboard. But Story’s tale wasn’t to be sold short, as he took Bumgarner deep into the left field seats.

“I got down 0-2 pretty quick, and then after that I was just trying to battle, and just trying to get something up in the air to get the guy home,” Story explained.

By current Giants’ standards, their response was, well, giant. One run in the sixth, two in the seventh, and three in the eighth gave the Giants a lead, and the run total (6) was more than the club had managed to score in its previous 25 innings. Home runs by Alen Hanson and Chris Shaw came with two outs in the eighth, and Shaw’s first big league homer broke a 7-7 tie.

Enough dramatics to earn the Giants a satisfying win? Sure, if they were somewhere other than Denver.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Rockies dented normally reliable Tony Watson with three hits, capped by pinch-hitter Noel Cuevas’ two-run single. For the rookie enjoying a September call-up, the moment could not have been bigger.

“You always look for that moment when you can get an opportunity,” Cuevas said.

Wade Davis didn’t give the Giants an opportunity to answer, striking out the side in the ninth for his 38th save. The win temporarily got the Rockies even with the Dodgers atop the NL West, pending the outcome of games scheduled for Monday evening.

The Rockies have never won the division crown in their 26 seasons of existence, with all four of their previous playoff appearances as a wild card.

The Giants have dropped six, consecutive Labor Day contests and are three games below .500 with 23 games remaining.