Bumgarner tops Greinke in battle of aces

PHOENIX — After announcing righthander Johnny Cueto would undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery on the first of the month, the San Francisco Giants thought they had nowhere to go but up in August. They were wrong. Hours before the Giants blasted the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-1, manager Bruce Bochy announced Pablo Sandoval’s hamstring injury was more severe than the club anticipated. Sandoval tore his right hamstring Sunday and like Cueto, will require surgery that will sideline him for the remainder of the year.

With the news of Cueto and Sandoval’s injuries in the rearview mirror, it was up to Madison Bumgarner to step on the gas pedal and lead the Giants past a club that began the day tied for the National League West lead. He obliged, and in a five-run eighth inning, the Giants’ offense slammed on that pedal.

In a battle of aces and a matchup of two of the more talented hitting pitchers in baseball, Bumgarner bested Dbacks’ right-hander Zack Greinke, who earned National League Pitcher of the Month honors for his July efforts earlier in the day.

Although Bumgarner has struggled through an uncharacteristically quiet year at the plate, his go-ahead single against Greinke produced the sound the Giants were looking for. Bumgarner’s two-out fifth inning liner into left field brought home Austin Slater and pushed San Francisco ahead 2-1.

Bumgarner’s second hit of the year was also the last one the Giants recorded until the eighth inning, but they found a way to add on to their advantage in the seventh. Recently acquired Dbacks reliever Jake Diekman made his debut Thursday and after walking Slater, he tossed an errant pickoff throw to first and then threw a wild pitch which allowed the Giants first baseman to reach third.

Diekman was replaced by another new Arizona pitcher, Brad Ziegler, who was greeted by a long Hunter Pence sacrifice fly that extended the Giants lead to 3-1.

Although the Giants didn’t provide Bumgarner with any run support in his last outing, he didn’t have to wait long Thursday as third baseman Evan Longoria launched a first-inning curveball into the left field bleachers to push the Giants out in front.

Longoria barely tucked his 11th home run of the season inside the left field foul pole and by keeping the ball fair, he became just third player to homer off of Greinke in his last seven starts.

The Giants third baseman put a run on the board with his bat in the top of the inning before taking runs away from the Dbacks in the bottom of the frame. With the bases loaded and one out, Longoria fully extended with a dive to nab a oneout line drive by Steven Souza that could have altered the course of the game.

Although the Dbacks rallied to tie the game after Ketel Marte led off the second inning with a leadoff walk, Bumgarner worked his way out of another difficult situation and stranded a pair of runners by inducing a Paul Goldschmidt groundout to preserve the tie.

An Eduardo Escobar sacrifice fly and 30 foul balls on 101 Bumgarner pitches was all the Dbacks had to show for their efforts, as the Giants ace labored through five challenging innings.

Bumgarner walked three hitters and allowed 10 baserunners Thursday, but Arizona left runners in scoring position in four of its first five innings and the Giants left-hander lowered his ERA to 2.97 by refusing to give in.

With the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning, Bochy sent Alen Hanson to the plate to replace substitute Chase d’Arnaud. With Ziegler on the mound, Hanson lined an RBI single into right field before Slater cleared the bases later in the inning with a single followed by an error from center fielder A.J. Pollock.