Giants Fall 1-0 Despite Bumgarner's Stellar Outing
Madison Bumgarner had one lone mistake pitch during his masterful eight innings of work against the Washington Nationals, but with the way the San Francisco Giants have played with him on the mound, one mistake has proven to be one too many.
San Francisco's ace allowed a solo shot to Wilson Ramos in the bottom of the seventh, and that sole run proved to be enough in Washington's 1-0 victory as the Giants' bats fell silent against Tanner Roark and company, putting up nine zeros on the scoreboard a day removed from lighting up Stephen Strasberg.
This afternoon's loss marks the fifth loss in Bumgarner's fifth second half start, the most of any starter in San Francisco's rotation behind Jeff Samardzija, who has four.
It's almost impossible to fault Bumgarner for this afternoon's loss, taking into account the fact that the lefty also reached base the most of any Giant in the lineup, reaching twice by way of a base hit and a walk.
To be fair, Brandon Belt came within inches of changing the outcome of this game, but he, too, was the victim of terrible luck as Ben Revere made a Willie Mays basket catch on the warning track of dead center field to rob the first baseman of a two-run extra base hit.
Belt's line out was hit far harder than Ramos's weak fly ball, which came off the bat at only 99.1 MPH, but unfortunately for the Baby Giraffe, that's baseball.
Not all of San Francisco's misfortunes could be attributed to rotten luck, as there were plenty of opportunities to drive in runners in scoring position, but the team as a whole only had one hit in nine at-bats, the one hit, of course, not driving in a run.
The Giants had a great opportunities to strike first in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, but those chances were squashed when they couldn't get the key base hits with ducks on the pond.
In the third, Gregor Blanco and Bumgarner began the inning with a walk and single, but the two would be stranded when the top of the order couldn't get anything going.
Joe Panik lined a two-out single into center with Posey at second in the following frame, but Posey couldn't score on the play and would be stranded at third when Blanco grounded out to second, ending the inning.
Posey had an opportunity to drive in a runner of his own in the fifth frame with runners on first and second with two outs, but he fared no better than Blanco, flying out to Revere in center and ending the threat.
Revere, of course, would go onto rob Belt in the seventh, squandering Bumgarner's one glimmer of hope for taking a lead in the ballgame.
Bumgarner's start was reminiscent of many of the starts during teammate Matt Cain's career, yet Cain was the only pitcher during the series to get more than one run of support during San Francsico's trip to Washington.
After the Nation's Capitol, the pitching matchups won't get any easier as San Francsico is set to face off against the Miami Marlins' young ace, José Fernández, along with the most feared slugger in the game and Home Run Derby Champion, Giancarlo Stanton.
Fernández and Stanton may be Miami's two brightest stars, but neither will shine brighter on Monday night as Ichiro will make his first appearance to Marlins Park after collecting his 3,000th hit, a standup triple, at Coors Field on Sunday.
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