Another Bumgarner gem: A shutout with 14 strikeouts— plus he hits a homer and a double.
Dominant Bumgarner tosses three-hitter, fans 14 and homers as Giants finish off sweep of Nationals
SAN FRANCISCO — There is nothing like a warm afternoon to shrink AT&T Park into a hitter’s haven.
There is nothing like blue flame from Madison Bumgarner’s left arm to make it look impossibly expansive again.
Bumgarner dominated the Washington Nationals on the mound, matching his career high with 14 strikeouts while throwing a three-hit shutout. He dominated at the plate, hitting a home run and lining an RBI double. He dominated with a power combination no Giant has thrown since Juan Marichal in a 5-0 victory that completed a fourgame sweep Sunday afternoon.
Bumgarner became the first Giants pitcher to toss a shutout with 10-plus strikeouts and hit a home run since Marichal did it on Sept. 12, 1963, against the New York Mets at the Polo Grounds. And wouldn’t you know? Marichal was in attendance on a balmy afternoon, watching in awe and admiration as Bumgarner seemingly plucked a start out of another era.
“I want to congratulate him twice: for the pitching and for the hitting,” Marichal said. “What a game!”
Here in the dog days, Bumgarner has become fully unleashed. He threw his second consecutive nine-inning complete game — he’s the first Giant to accomplish that since Tim Lincecum in 2009 — and he has allowed just two runs in 25 1 ⁄ innings over three starts in
3 August.
“You don’t take it for granted at all,” catcher Buster Posey said. “It’s a special outing. Just really … it’s up there for the best one of the year, to me. … The command of the fastball has just been as good as it’s been all year.”
This wasn’t a day that should have favored the pitchers at China Basin. The temperature was 85 degrees — the warmest recorded at first pitch here in almost five years. And consider this: The last time it was hotter, on Aug. 25, 2010, the Giants played pinball and erased a 10-run deficit before losing 12-11 to the Cincinnati Reds in 12 innings.
“I started that game,” said Bumgarner, correctly recalling his 13th big league start when he gave up eight runs in less than three innings.
The Nationals could not play pinball against Bumgarner. Instead, they were on full tilt all afternoon as the left-hander threw cutters on their hands. He struck out the side in the first inning, didn’t allow a hit until the fifth and kept overwhelming the Nationals with a fastball that topped out at 94 mph. They whiffed on 16 of the 32 swings they took against his four-seam heat.
Even Bryce Harper, the leading N.L. MVP candidate and the only lefthanded batter to homer off Bumgarner this season, struck out three times. Enjoy that, Madison? “You’re dang right I did,” he said. “That’s a fun at-bat. It certainly is for me, regardless of the result. I’m going after him as hard as I can, and he’s going after me. It’s got to be fun to watch, and it’s fun for me to be a part of.”
Always ornery on the mound, Bumgarner (14-6) might have stamped dirt with a little more gumption than usual because the Nationals rang him up for six runs on July 4 in Washington. Heck, knowing him, he might still be ticked that he pitched the only game the Giants lost to the Nats in the N.L. Division Series last October.
“That game is right up there with some of the really good ones he’s thrown, and he’s thrown a lot of them,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s not easy to do, get a four-game sweep, especially against a team like this and the pitching they have. I said we had to play our best ball, and we did.”
Bumgarner was at his best in every respect. He even helped himself by snagging Ian Desmond’s line drive up the middle in the second inning. Left fielder Justin Maxwell laid out to make a diving catch, too.
Hunter Pence smacked a two-run home run off Nationals right-hander Joe Ross, who couldn’t maintain his early dominance after peeling through the Giants the first time through the order while striking out six.
The Giants were much different the second time around. Hunter Pence hit a hanging slider halfway up the left field bleachers for his ninth homer of the season — a two-run shot during a three-run fourth inning — and the Giants ushered the right-hander from the mound before he could record an out in the fifth.
The Nationals made no such adjustment against Bumgarner, who hurt them in every respect.
Bumgarner might have received a dash of charity from the official scorer in the fifth when his hardhit liner to right got past Harper. Kelby Tomlinson raced around to score from first base, and the scorer saw fit to credit Bumgarner with an RBI.
Bumgarner drove himself home in the seventh, connecting off Casey Janssen for his fourth home run of the season and 10th of his career. He owns the most home runs by a Giants pitcher since Johnny Antonelli hit 15 from 1954-60.
The crowd stood and cheered in the ninth as Bumgarner struck out Harper to tie his career high, then got Yunel Escobar to fly out to end his ninth career complete game and fourth career shutout in the regular season.
How did Bumgarner make a lively ballpark look so big?
“You try to make a quality pitch and throw it with conviction,” he said, “and if you can do that, you live with the result.”
The Giants went 5-1 on their homestand and now travel to play the N.L.’s top two teams at St. Louis and Pittsburgh.