Giants lose Pence for two weeks, but Vogelsong, Bumgarner’s bat help beat Cardinals 2-0.
Pence out at least twoweeks with injury, but Vogelsong’s start, Bumgarner’s hit help save day
ST. LOUIS — The Giants lost a big hitter in Hunter Pence on Tuesday. Good thing they still have a few left over, like Madison Bumgarner.
Bumgarner stroked the first pinch hit of his career, which led to an important insurance run that preserved a clutch, sterling Ryan Vogelsong starting effort as the Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 at Busch Stadium.
The victory was temporary salve for the loss of Pence, who was out of the lineup and getting an MRI, which revealed a left oblique strain that will sideline him for a minimum of two weeks. The injury occurred on his fly-ball out swing in the ninth inning Monday night.
It’s another rough injury loss at this critical point in the season, but as Vogelsong noted afterward, the club just has to suck it up, as he did for six two-hit shutout innings.
“Going back a few years, we’ve
had different situations where we lose guys to injury,” Vogelsong said. “Obviously we lost Melky (Cabrera) for other reasons, too. But you have to find ways to play. No one’s going to feel sorry for us that we’re losing guys. This team does a pretty good job of staying positive, moving forward and being resilient.
“So we’re going to be tested again, and we’re just going to have to do it.”
On this night, Vogelsong was the lead dog in “doing it.” After a shaky 30-pitch first inning, he settled and pitched like vintage Vogey, retiring 20 of 21 Cardinals before being pinch-hit for — by Bumgarner — in the seventh. He walked just one batter and struck out five, and only a Jhonny Peralta double off the center field wall in the fourth blemished his final five innings.
It was quite a performance for a guy who hasn’t known when he’d pitch or in what role. But Vogelsong admitted he likes being put in the situation of having to bail out his team in a tough spot.
“I do … this time of year is fun,” he said. “I know it’s only August, but the stretch we’re in right now, this is almost like playoff baseball for us. I’ve said before, I enjoy that kind of intensity and pressure.”
The Giants as a whole seemed to thrive on it on this night, particularly the pitchers. Josh Osich blew through a 1-2-3 seventh, Sergio Romo struck out the side in the eighth and in the ninth, after Javier Lopez walked Matt Carpenter to open the frame, Santiago Casilla buoyed hopes that he’s back on track with two strikeouts and a broken-bat fly ball out against the 2-3-4 men in the Cardinals order for his 29th save.
“Good game for us, good bounce-back after a tough loss last night,” said manager Bruce Bochy. He called Vogelsong “a warrior, this guy gives you all he has, he’s well prepared and has a great focus out there. What a terrific job he did.”
Bochy turned somber when it came to discussing Pence.
“It wasn’t great news, but it’s the news we thought,” the manager said. “It’s a tough time of year to lose one of your best players. But I was proud of the guys, nobody talked about it. They went out and put together a nice ballgame.”
As for Pence, he predictably was trying to stay positive.
The Giants’ Ryan Vogelsong went six shutout innings against the Cardinals and got the win.
“This is what happened, and I have to make the best of it, try to get back as soon as possible,” he said. “The next guys just have to step up. That’s what we aim to do here, pick each other up.”
Offensively challenged without Joe Panik, Angel Pagan and now Pence, the Giants got their two runs on a sixth-inning bases-loaded groundout by Brandon Crawford and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch by Brandon Belt in the seventh. Not exactly thunderous rallies, but it got the job done.
Bumgarner started the seventh-inning rally when Bochy looked at his short bench and decided to call on him to pinch-hit with two out and nobody on. He stroked a clean single to center.
“Now we have to hear from him for a few days, saying how easy that was,” Bochy said. The manager said he thought about pinchrunning Chris Heston when Bumgarner got in scoring position, but noted, “Bum might have gotten upset and challenged Heston to a race tomorrow.”
Bumgarner wasn’t around to talk about his hit, but Vogelsong praised it, although he expressed some mock anger that he was pinch-hit for by another pitcher.
“I have to swallow my pride a little bit,” he said. “But what is he, 12 years younger than me? His hands are probably a little quicker than mine.”
Mike Leake (left hamstring n tightness) could be plugged in to start whenever he’s ready. “He’s day to day right now, he’s that close,” Bochy said. “We won’t have to wait for his spot to come up.”
After going hitless in n his first nine major-league at-bats, rookie Ryan Lollis got his first career hit in the eighth.
nCrawford established a career-high 12-game hitting streak with a fifth-inning double, his 28th, which tied Belt for the team lead.