Bumgarner solid, offense sputters as Giants fall to Reds 2-1.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants rotation continues to give up a worrisome number of home runs since the All-Star break.
But it wasn’t Jay Bruce’s seventh-inning shot into the right field arcade — his fourth of the three-game series at AT&T Park — that wholly undermined Madison Bumgarner’s effort in the Giants’ 2-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday afternoon.
Angel Pagan butchered a fly ball that led to an unearned run in the fifth inning as the Giants lost for the ninth time in 11 games and failed to win the rubber match of the series against the doormats of the N.L. Central.
“If we didn’t have runs like this, we’d be on pace to win 115 games,” Giants catcher Buster Posey said. “That’d be pretty remarkable. It stinks when you go through it. It’s not far from
the norm. You just try to get back on track as quick as possible.”
About that … Losing two of three to the Reds meant the Giants failed to capitalize on a grassy patch in what is otherwise the roughest part of their schedule — 17 of 24 games away from AT&T Park, all but three of them in the Eastern time zone, with the N.L. East-leading Washington Nationals arriving for the remainder of this homestand.
At least the Dodgers continue to run in place, losing to the Tampa Bay Rays to remain 2½ games behind the Giants.
The Giants should have second baseman Joe Panik (concussion) active and back in the lineup at some point during the Nationals series this weekend. Hunter Pence, despite being 8 for 16 with two homers in his first five games for TripleA Sacramento, will remain on his rehab assignment a little longer as his surgically repaired right hamstring gets used to taking a daily pounding again.
The Giants offense is in dire need of a spark.
What’s worse than hitting .125 with runners in scoring position, as the Giants did on their last road trip? How about not getting a single at-bat with runners in scoring position?
The Giants (59-42) managed just three hits in eight innings against former A’s right-hander Dan Straily, including Conor Gillaspie’s home run that was upheld following a review in the third inning.
Bochy’s referendum on the state of his offense came in the eighth inning when, in a rare circumstance, a starting pitcher hit for himself while the Giants trailed by a run with four outs to go. Bumgarner ripped a two-out single, but pinch runner Ramiro Peña was stranded.
“He’s a threat and he gets his swings off, and he’s going for it,” said Bochy, whose election to stay with Bumgarner instead of a lefthanded matchup wasn’t a rousing vote of confidence in Jarrett Parker.
The Giants’ 2-9 stretch since the break is reminiscent of patches of 2014, when they banked a ton of victories in April and May before looking like the N.L.’s worst team over 5-18 and 513 stretches from June to early August. The solace the Giants can take from that: they won the World Series that year.
“We’re on the younger side, some of us, but we’ve got a lot of guys who have been through some adversity,” Bumgarner said. “We just have to find a way through it and keep going.” Playing cleaner games will help. The Reds tied it with an unearned run in the fifth inning courtesy of Pagan — the first that Bumgarner allowed at home in 20 innings dating to a start on June 25 against the Phillies.
Brandon Phillips hit a one-out single and Eugenio Suarez followed with a line drive to left that Pagan, perhaps fighting the sun, drifted back to catch before abruptly sticking out an arm as the ball deflected off his glove for a two-base error.
It was Pagan’s fifth error this season — his most since 2012. The player the Giants moved because he had become a liability in center field is rapidly becoming a liability in left.
“The ball was hit hard and it’s a tough play,” Bochy said. “I didn’t talk to him (to ask) whether he lost it in the sun.” Bumgarner (106) had an avenue to escape the inning if he had pitched around No. 8 hitter Tucker Barnhart, which would have loaded the bases for Straily with one out. But Barnhart coaxed a sacrifice fly to right field and Phillips trotted home with the tying run.
Bruce put the Reds ahead in the seventh, silencing the crowd while hitting the first pitch of the inning into the arcade. It was his fourth homer of the series, and the 18th that Giants starting pitchers have allowed in 11 games since the All-Star break.
The Reds’ eight home runs was the most the Giants have ever allowed in a threegame series at AT&T Park.
“The way he’s going right now, he’s not going to foul it off,” Bumgarner said of Bruce.
The Giants are lousy at n timing when it comes to the trade market. They faced a whole bunch of 104 mph fastballs from Aroldis Chapman last weekend at Yankee Stadium, just before New York dealt him to the Chicago Cubs. Now Bruce has gone on the offensive for the Reds, who are expected to deal him prior to Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline.
Perhaps the Giants will re-evaluate and make a play for him, although they are more focused on arms that could impact their bullpen.
Peña was scratched n from the original lineup because he felt ill one day after taking a hard shot to his groin.