Crawford smashes walk-off HR in win

SAN FRANCISCO — A sizzling spring training line drive robbed the San Francisco Giants of opportunities to send Madison Bumgarner to the mound every fifth day during the first half of the year.

But at the midpoint of the 2018 season, Bumgarner isn’t just pitching again. He’s dominating again.

Brandon Crawford’s been doing that all season.

Thanks to seven scoreless innings from Bumgarner and a walk-off home run by Crawford in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies 1-0.

With left-hander Harrison Musgrave on the mound, Crawford launched a 365-foot blast into the right field arcade to help the Giants finish the first half of the season three games over .500 at 4239.

With seven innings of twohit ball against the Rockies Wednesday, Bumgarner extended his scoreless streak to 16 innings.

Bumgarner threw 101 pitches against Colorado, showcasing a remarkably efficient cutter he threw 28 times. The Rockies put just three of Bumgarner’s cutters in play, fouling off eight others and taking five for called strikes.

The left-hander that Bumgarner opposed turned Wednesday’s contest into a bonafide pitchers’ duel, as Rockies starter Kyle Freeland used a balanced fivepitch combination to match Bumgarner stride for stride.

After scratching across a late run to end Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino’s scoreless streak at 15 innings in a 3-2 win Tuesday, the Giants’ offense struggled to challenge Freeland over seven innings of work.

An emerging force in the Rockies rotation, Freeland is a groundball pitcher and a left-hander who had no trouble exposing the deficiencies of a Giants lineup that doesn’t have the same firepower against southpaws it did before Evan Longoria fractured his hand.