Pagan's Error & Bruce's Homer Spoil Bumgarner's Outing

Having struggled out the gate following the All-Star Break and only managing one win on an eight-game road trip, the San Francisco Giants must have been thrilled on the plane ride home to know that they would be playing the Cincinnati Reds, which came into the series 22 games under .500.

After all, before the Reds, the Giants had to face Eastern powerhouses in the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, as well as the San Diego Padres, who have a fair amount of talent despite their record.

With ace Madison Bumgarner on the mound in the pitcher-friendly confines of AT&T Park, as well as the obvious momentum that comes with a pitcher hitting a home run the night before, the Giants looked poised to win their first series in two and a half calendar weeks.

Yet, just like so many times over the past eleven games, the depleted lineup was not able to wake up the bats and break its recent funk, losing the series finale to Cincinnati in an offensively barren 2-1 loss.

Bumgarner followed up a solid performance in the Bronx by pitching a beauty on the other side of the country, allowing two runs, only one of which was earned, while striking out nine over eight innings.

A start of that caliber should have been more than enough to put the Giants in a position to win their second consecutive game, but the offense fell short.

While the lefty's performance was the one and only bright spot for the Giants, as while the ace was dominant on the mound, the offense was equally weak, only able to squeeze one measly run out of Cincinnati's Dan Strailey over his 7.2 innings of work on the hill.

San Francisco's one and only run came off the bat of Conor Gillaspie, who hit a solo shot off of Straily in the bottom of the third.

Due to the offense's inability to put together any momentum, Bumgarner's one mistake on the mound was one which put the Reds over the top and allowed them to take a late-game lead.

Jay Bruce, only two days removed from his two-home run night against Jake Peavy, hit the game-deciding home run in the top of the eighth, breaking a 1-1 tie and giving Cincinnati the one-run it would need to put themselves over the top and capture the series.

The white-hot outfielder's go-ahead bomb rose his stock even higher, as the home run marked his fifth consecutive game with a long ball.

Neither San Francisco nor Cincinnati was able to put up much of a fight against either Bumgarner or Straily from the get-go, as both starters combined to strike out five of the game's first six batters, the only non-strikeout being a Billy Hamilton line out to left.

Both starters had clean 1-2-3 innings in the second, but after Bumgarner had set down the Reds in order in the third, the streak of batters not reaching base ended as Gillaspie led off the third with a home run, giving the Giants a 1-0 lead.

Gillaspie's 4th home run of the season did not come without Cincinnati trying to get it rescinded, as similar to Bruce's first home run of the series, it was unclear as to whether or not the ball cleared the fence and left the yard in real time.

A side angle showed that the ball undisputedly cleared the tall right-field fence, leading to a quick meeting amongst umpires.

The Reds continued to go scoreless until the fifth inning, where, with the help of some shoddy defense, scored their first run of the game.

Brandon Phillips started the inning with a single, then Ángel Pagán, who may have lost the ball in the sun, botched a Eugenio Suarez line drive, putting Phillips on third and Suarez on second with only one out.

The error was Pagán's fifth on the season, the most he has had since 2012, and it could not have come at a worse time for Bumgarner.

Following the error, Tucker Barnhart drove in Phillips with a fly ball to right, just a little too far for Mac Williamson and his strong arm to have a chance of throwing the second baseman out at home, tying the game up at one.

The bats on both sides were dormant until the seventh when Bruce broke the 1-1 tie with a home run.

Bruce's dinger was Cincinnati's eight of the series, the most the Giants have ever allowed in a three-game series at AT&T Park.

Pagán somewhat redeemed himself for the blunder in the third inning, running a route equivalent to that of a wide receiver trying to break someone out of their shoes before snagging a low line drive off the bat of former Giant Adam Duvall.

The left-fielder couldn't spark a rally in the ninth even after a leadoff single. Buster Posey just missed sending everyone home happy by flying out to the warning track, almost a metaphor for how the team has come so close yet has continuously fallen short.

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