San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Bumgarner steady — everything else isn’t
MILWAUKEE — Call it the Madison Bumgarner Paradox. The better he pitches, the more valuable he becomes as a trade chip. Yet, the longer he helps the Giants sustain their recent surge, the more reason they have to keep him.
It’s a great problem to have, and Bumgarner has done a great job of forcing the club to make that enviable choice, including the five innings he threw in Saturday night’s eventful 54 walkoff loss to the Brewers.
Each team blew late leads as three of the game’s best defenders, Lorenzo Cain, Joe Panik and Brandon Crawford, committed costly errors. Panik and Crawford had not had one in the same game since 2014.
Crawford’s proved costliest because it allowed Ryan Braun to reach first base with nobody out in the ninth inning of a 44
game.
Two Reyes Moronta strikeouts and a walk later, Ben Gamel won it with a twostrike double down the rightfield line, handing the Giants their third loss in the past 11 games.
“Bad read on my part,” Crawford said, not anticipating a long hop off the grass. “I got caught inbetween.”
There might not have been a bottom of the ninth without an exceptional throw by Crawford from well into the outfield to nail Mike Moustakas at the plate and save Bumgarner a run. Buster Posey made a tough tag on the play, too. Bumgarner returned from the liner to his elbow against the Cardinals a week earlier and would have had five shutout innings if not for Panik failing to backhand Christian Yelich’s twoout groundball in the fifth, which allowed Milwaukee to tie a 10 game.
Bumgarner did not have his best stuff. The five innings were a 103pitch grind that included 24 foul balls, his fifth most this year. He could not discount the lingering effects of the bruise on the back of his elbow.
“It’s hard to say, maybe a little bit,” Bumgarner said. “It’s not completely normal yet. There’s no pain. There’s still some swelling left, and bruising. That probably contributed, that and the extended time off. It was definitely a grind.”
Scouts for potential trade partners will duly note that they saw Bumgarner’s fastball hover at 90 mph, instead of 9192. They also have to report the results.
In four starts since the Dodgers ripped him on June 20, Bumgarner has allowed five runs (four earned) in 20 innings, a 1.80 ERA. He has walked four and struck out 28.
The game took a lot of twists after Bumgarner departed.
Austin Slater hit a pinch RBI double in the seventh, after twoout hits from Crawford and Donovan Solano, to break the 11 tie.
Sam Dyson, who has dominated opponents with his sinker, uncharacteristically allowed rockets to his four batters in the eighth. Moustakas, Jesus Aguilar and Keston Hiura hit doubles that gave the Brewers a 32 lead that grew to 42 on an Orlando Arcia sacrifice fly off Derek Holland.
“Dyson has been throwing the ball as well as anybody,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He was up. He didn’t have the action he usually has. But what a great run he’s had.”
The Giants roared back after closer Jeremy Jeffress walked Crawford to start the ninth. Slater hit a oneout single and the Giants tied the game when Stephen Vogt hit a pinch single to center that Cain overran, allowing both runners to score.
“I love the way we kept battling and nearly pulled it out,” Bochy said after the Giants lost for only the second time in 34 games this year when they led after seven innings.
The Giants, who started the day leading the majors with 17 July homers, failed to hit one for the first time in their past 14 games, ending their longest streak with at least one since 2002.