Bumgarner fans 9, increases appeal to prospective suitors
Madison Bumgarner very well might not be with the Giants at the end of July. On the final day of June, he provided a striking glimpse of why he’ll be such an attractive trade target over the next month.
The lefthander limited the Diamondbacks to a run on four hits in seven innings and tied Tim Lincecum for second place on the San Francisco Giants’ career strikeout list in a 104 romp at China Basin.
Bumgarner (57) retired the first 10 Arizona hitters before Tim Locastro singled to right with one out in the fourth. That was the lone inning in which the Diamondbacks had more than one man reach base against Bumgarner.
He kept them off the board in that inning by striking out Christian Walker looking. Walker K’d in all three of his atbats against Bumgarner.
So did Carson Kelly. After Bumgarner racked up Kelly to end the seventh, most of the 31,778 fans gave Bumgarner a standing ovation.
With the Giants leading 41 at that point, the fans might have guessed Kelly would be the last batter Bumgarner faced Sunday. It was his ninth strikeout (he did not issue a walk), giving him 1,704 for his career.
Only Juan Marichal (2,281) has more in San Francisco history.
“This organization has been around a long time and had a lot of great players come through here,” Bumgarner said, “so to be up on the list is very special.”
On Tuesday, Bumgarner struck out 11 in six innings in a 42 win over Colorado. He passed Matt Cain (1,694) on the S.F. strikeout list that night.
Bumgarner said he stays in touch with Lincecum and Cain, though he hadn’t spoken to Cain since dropping him to fourth on the list.
“I meant to kind of razz (Cain) a little bit, but just haven’t done it yet,” Bumgarner said. Will he razz Lincecum? “Probably not as much, because he did that in, like, five years,” Bumgarner said.
Lincecum’s career with the Giants actually lasted nine years. He had six straight seasons (200813) with at least 190 strikeouts.
As good as Bumgarner was Sunday, he shared top billing with outfielder Kevin Pillar, who merely went 4for5 with a careerhigh five RBIs.
Pillar took Arizona lefthander Robbie Ray (56) deep to left for a tworun homer in the second. Pillar added a tworun single in the third, a double in the fifth and an RBI single in the Giants’ sixrun seventh. In his final atbat, Pillar lined out to right.
Coming into Sunday, the former Toronto outfielder had only three hits in his previous 26 atbats. He leads the Giants with 11 homers and 42 RBIs.
And though he has been with San Francisco for only three months, Pillar takes a backseat to no one in his admiration for Bumgarner.
“Bum is one of those guys that, whether you play in the American League or National League, you know who he is,” Pillar said. “You know what he’s about. You know what he’s accomplished in this game. (He’s) one of the guys that I was most excited about sharing a clubhouse with, just getting to know him and seeing how competitive he is.
“At this point in his career, with how much he’s accomplished, the stuff like what he was able to do today kind of is underappreciated from afar. It’s kind of what you just expect from him.”