San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Giants 3, Rockies 0:
Bumgarner exits early, but S.F. records second shutout in row.
With the homeliness of 11 straight losses distilled, and the uncertainty of what lies ahead stripped away, what remains is a ballgame. The faithful who visit AT&T Park still get a charge out of seeing their favorite players succeed and the Giants win.
Saturday night’s customers left happy after a 3-0 victory over the Rockies.
This being 2018, there had to be a “but,” or even two, amid the Giants’ second consecutive shutout of a lineup that has given their pitching staff nightmares.
Madison Bumgarner left the game after six shutout innings with an injury to his right side that he first felt swinging the bat. (He said it’s nothing.)
Austin Slater was hit in the helmet with a pitch. (It sounded loud, but he finished the game.)
“Buts” aside, fun returned to China Basin this weekend when it was needed most, with two wins over a team that has owned the Giants in 2018 and was leading the National League West when it arrived in San Francisco.
Moreover, they have won by playing “Giants baseball,” a term that might have a different definition moving forward.
“The last two nights, the pitching has been outstanding, and the defense has been great,” said Hunter Pence, who singled home one of two second-inning runs against German Marquez and continues to get the loudest ovations from fans who know they are seeing his final games in orange and black.
A night after Chris Stratton’s shutout, Bumgarner seemed primed for one of his own when he blanked the Rockies on three hits through five innings, throwing 51 pitches.
But something was amiss when manager Bruce Bochy and head athletic trainer Dave Groeschner came to the mound with one out in the sixth to check on Bumgarner after an 0-1 pitch to Nolan Arenado.
Bumgarner lobbied to stay in, finished another shutout inning, then agreed to leave with an injury that he first felt while striking out in the fourth. He had doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the third. Tony Watson, Mark Melancon and Will Smith completed the seven-hitter.
“It feels fine,” Bumgarner said. “It’s probably as minor as it could be. They want to be cautious about it, and I don’t blame them with the situation we’re in. There’s no reason to push it and make it into a bigger deal. We’re trying to be smart about it.”
Bochy expects Bumgarner to make his next start in St. Louis Tuesday
Vs. Padres, 7:10 p.m. NBCSBA TBA vs. Lucchesi (8-8)
on Friday night.
The Giants not only have rare consecutive wins, they ensured a series victory against the lone division foe that has owned them this season.
Their 70th victory also installed the Dodgers as division leaders, which might have soured the crowd’s mood had it been shown on the scoreboard.
The fans were treated to an ump show in the third inning when home-plate arbiter Ramon DeJesus gave a dramatically emphatic warning to Marquez and both benches after he hit Evan Longoria with an offspeed pitch to load the bases.
That was after Bumgarner hit DJ LeMahieu in the top half. Bumgarner defended Marquez by saying DeJesus needed to have the game awareness to know the Rockies right-hander merely let a breaking pitch slip. Perhaps the crew was on guard because Bumgarner hit Ryan Braun in his prior start, ahead of a Jonathan Schoop grand slam that cost him the game.
“Seems like every time I throw inside I get a fine the next day for hitting someone,” Bumgarner said. “No matter what they do or don’t do, there was no intent.”
Then, the Big Fella joked, “I’ll probably get fined for saying that.”