Bumgarner sets stage for Crawford
Ace pitches seven shutout innings, then hot-hitting shortstop homers in ninth
SAN FRANCISCO >> A sizzling spring training line drive robbed the Giants of opportunities to send Madison Bumgarner to the mound every fifth day during the first half of the season.
But at the midpoint of the 2018 season, Bumgarner isn’t just pitching again. He’s dominating again. Brandon Crawford knows what that feels like.
Thanks to seven scoreless innings from Bumgarner and a walk-off home run by Crawford in the ninth inning, the Giants defeated the Rockies 1-0 on Wednesday.
“You’re excited to get around the base and get to the guys at home,” Crawford said. “Those are the reasons you play baseball. Those are the real fun parts.”
After the Rockies brought in lefty Harrison Musgrave to face Crawford, the Giants shortstop launched a 365-foot blast into the right field arcade to help his club finish the first half of the season three games over .500 at 42-39.
The solo homer was Crawford’s ninth of the season and his third career walk-off home run as the Giants secured their ninth shutout of the year. Though Crawford is closing in on his first All-Star starting nod, the spotlight on Wednes-
day belonged to Bumgarner, who is shaping up to be the star of the Giants’ second half.
With seven innings of two-hit ball against the Rockies, Bumgarner extended his scoreless streak to 16 innings and proved there was clearly more where his eight inning, three-hit start against the Padres came from.
“I felt a little better this time than last time out,” Bumgarner said. “I didn’t go quite as deep, that fifth inning kind of got me there. But I would say it felt even better.”
Bumgarner threw 101 pitches against Colorado, leading the Giants to their eighth win in their past 10 games and their 26th victory in 39 home contests.
“There’s a huge sense of confidence here at home,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We didn’t do much offensively but what’s been impressive is the pitching here has really picked up.”
The left-hander that Bumgarner opposed turned Wednesday’s contest into a bona fide pitchers’ duel, as Rockies starter Kyle Freeland used a balanced five-pitch combination to match Bumgarner stride for stride with seven of his own shutout innings.
Bumgarner wasted lit- tle time making history Wednesday, striking out Rockies second baseman D.J. LeMahieu to record the 1,500th strikeout of his career. The Giants ace is the fourth fastest lefty to reach 1,500 career strikeouts since 1920, following Randy Johnson, Clayton Kershaw and David Price.
Bumgarner went on to strike out seven more Rockies hitters, finishing the night with eight punchouts and two walks. After retiring the first 14 batters he faced, Bumgarner flirted with a chance to make Wednesday’s out- ing even more historic, but a Carlos Gonzalez double with two outs in the fifth thwarted those efforts.
“He really had good command,” Bochy said. “The ball-strike ratio was outstanding, and he had every pitch going. These last two games he’s been on a real nice roll.”
With Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija poised to return to the rotation soon, Bumgarner’s most recent outings have pulled the curtains on a window of opportunity that’s still open for San Francisco. Despite finishing with a 64-98 record in a devastating 2017 season, the Giants entered 2018 by setting their own lofty expectation: Anything less than competing for a playoff berth would be considered a failure.
While many organizations would have overhauled a losing roster and sold off core pieces in an effort to field a younger club, the Giants leaned into their assets and doubled down on their faith in a crew of veterans following a season they termed an “aberration.”
Bochy’s squad guaranteed a winning first half with a series opening victory over the Rockies on Tuesday. With all of the injuries the Giants have been forced to overcome, the team’s record is a testament to the depth the franchise has cultivated and the breakthrough performances of Gorkys Hernández, Andrew Suárez and Dereck Rodríguez.
“Pitching-wise and offensively, we’ve had guys step up when we needed them to,” Crawford said. “We have a lot of rookies around the room that have really filled in well.”
The Giants aren’t blazing a trail at the top of the National League West as they did during the first half of 2016, but they’re within striking distance at 4 ½ games back.
And as long as Bumgarner continues to roll, they’ll take it.
“I know we always want more, but the spot we’re in right now is not a bad place to be,” Bumgarner said.