Bumgarner, Giants Handed Tough Luck Loss

Despite the great pitching of Madison Bumgarner, the Giants were done in by one swing of the bat by Pittsburg Pirates catcher Erik Kratz and the brilliant pitching of Jeff Locke, as the San Francisco ace got "Cain'd" and the Giants fell in a sour 1-0 loss.

Kratz, who entered the game having not tallied a single hit since the Pirates acquired him on June 11th, made his first hit a big one, just getting a long, high fly ball over the short left field fence.

The catcher did not strike the ball very well as the exit velocity when the bat left the bat was 91 MPH, but perhaps the strong winds in Pittsburgh on the first day of summer pushed the ball just enough to get it out of the stadium.

Angel Pagan, who is no stranger to spectacular plays, leaped over the wall and snared the potential home run, but on the way down, the ball slipped out of his glove and landed in the left field bleachers.

The left fielder was clearly not happy with his inability to catch the ball and did not hesitate to snatch his glove off of his hand and slam it into the warning track dirt.

While one run usually isn't enough to secure a win, Locke was a man on a mission against the potent San Francisco line-up, neutralizing the Duffy and Span-less offense with quick and efficient innings by pitching to contact.

The Giants had a couple of good swings of the bat but just met some bad breaks as the Pittsburg defense always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

Shockingly, with no reason to do so, Clint Hurdle took Locke out after a two-out double by Jarrett Parker in the seventh inning despite only having thrown 84 pitches.

The decision ended up working out for Hurdle, as Neftali Feliz retired Bumgarner, Pittsburgh's set-up man Tony Watson held the Giants scoreless in the eighth, the closer Mark Melancon sealed the deal in the ninth to snap San Francisco's winning streak.

The Giants have had a knack for scoring late in the ballgame, but tonight was not their night as the bats went lifeless.

The effort on offense could be summarized by Brandon Belt's base running mistake in the ninth, as the first baseman was rounding second base when right fielder Gregory Polanco made a running catch. Polanco made the routine throw to first to double up Belt, and a possible rally was squashed.

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Although he got handed the tough luck loss, the All-Star had yet another excellent game on route to recording his 12th straight quality start, striking out eight over eight innings.

According to Andrew Baggarly, Bumgarner becomes the first Giant pitcher with 12 consecutive starts of allowing two or fewer runs since Jesse Barnes in 1920.

The Pirates tried to jump on Bumgarner by attacking early in the count, usually on the first pitch, to avoid having to come face-to-face with the big lefty's deadly cutter, which has been effective for him all season.

While the idea was good in retrospect, it ended up working in Bumgarner's favor. The strategy of attacking early and often in the count resulted in Pittsburgh hitters not seeing a lot of pitches while at the plate, allowing Bumgarner to be super efficient on the mound and work with a low pitch count in the later innings.

Attacking early in the count also resulted in the Pirates falling behind in the count, giving Bumgarner the opportunity to use all the weapons in his arsenal, especially his deadly cutter and curveball, and rack up the strikeouts.

Bumgarner's eight innings of one-run ball dropped his ERA on the season to 1.85 on the season, good for 3rd in the Majors. His eight strikeouts also give him 115 on the season, which places him at 5th in the Majors.

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