Road sweep slips just out of reach
PHOENIX >> Bruce Bochy is cleaning up, just not with a broom in his hand.
Bochy arrived at Chase Field for the final time Sunday as Giants manager with a chance to watch his club finish off a four-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Instead of leaving town
with a victory, Bochy walked out of the ballpark after a 6-1 loss to the Diamondbacks with a certificate for a fourday, all-inclusive trip to a resort in Montana.
In his 25th and final season as a major league manager, Bochy has been acknowledged by nearly every opposing team in his last visits to various cities. The Reds gave Bochy a custommade bourbon ice chest, the Orioles presented him with engraved Sagamore Spirit Rye bottles, and the Padres provided a memorable video tribute and a slew of gifts that included a new set of fishing poles.
Bochy will have plenty of
time this fall to enjoy all of the items he’s received, but he’s still holding out hope that his calendar will be full in October.
Games like the one the Giants played Sunday won’t help his cause.
The Giants had won nine of ace Madison Bumgarner’s last 10 starts, but they trailed from the first inning and never threatened against an Arizona pitching staff that allowed 28 runs in the first three games of the series.
The Giants hadn’t lost a Bumgarner start since July 13 in Milwaukee and Bumgarner hadn’t received a loss since he logged just 3 2/3 innings June 20 against the Dodgers, but the Giants’ lineup was noncompetitive for much of Sunday’s game.
“He threw the ball well and in this ballpark he gave us a chance,” Bochy said. “We just couldn’t do much offensively.”
San Francisco fell behind from the get-go for the third straight game as Bumgarner battled first-inning command issues against the top of the Diamondbacks’ order. After Eduardo Escobar doubled into the right-center-field gap and Christian Walker walked on four pitches, Bumgarner still had a chance to escape the inning unscathed against Adam Jones.
Jones instead hit a sinking line drive to center field that missed the glove of a diving Kevin Pillar by a few inches. Giants pitchers have become accustomed to watching Pillar make brilliant plays on highlight-reel catches throughout the season, but a missed attempt at Jones’ liner led to a tworun triple.
“He makes a lot of unbelievable catches and I wanted him to try to do that,” Bumgarner said. “I was glad to see that he tried to go for it instead of playing it on a bounce.”
Arizona added on once more in the inning on a bloop single that sailed over the head of shortstop Brandon Crawford, but Bumgarner gave the Giants a few chances to overcome the early miscues. San Francisco failed to take advantage against Merrill Kelly, who entered Sunday’s game having allowed at least four runs in each of his last four starts.
The Giants’ best chance came in the sixth inning, shortly after Arizona’s Wilmer Flores launched his third home run of the series to extend the Diamondbacks’ lead to 4-0.
After left fielder Mike Yastrzemski led off the in- ning with a triple and second baseman Scooter Gennett followed with a RBI single, the Giants loaded the bases and brought the go-ahead run to the plate. That ended the day for Kelly, who watched from the home dugout as lefthander Andrew Chafin induced an inning-ending groundout from Crawford.
“He’s gotten a lot of big hits for us,” Bochy said of Crawford. “I’m not going to quit on him now.”
Bumgarner struck out nine over six innings and only gave up six hits, but his outing swung on the twoout, first-inning triple from Jones that nearly found Pillar’s glove. Instead of recording his third consecutive quality start and sixth in his last seven outings, Bumgarner was charged with four earned runs and took his eighth loss of the season.
“I like the aggressive
play,” Bumgarner said. “Sometimes it works, but sometimes it don’t.”
Bochy would have preferred a fourth consecutive win to a four-day vacation, but the Giants will head to Chicago with a chance to gain significant ground against one of their top challengers for a National League wild-card spot.
With a series victory or sweep against a Cubs team with solid starting pitchers lined up to face the Giants, Bochy would be able to put off booking the dates for his next vacation.
“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, we’ve got to win games,” Bochy said. “We’re the ones that are behind. But, hey, this was a good series. You come in here and take three out of four, you’ve got to feel good about that.”