Madison Bumgarner, the workhorse who combines power and precision on the mound with a Paul Bunyan-esque swing powerful enough to send a tiny white pearl laced with red stitches hundreds of feet into the night and chop down the toughest of timber, constitutes equal parts of man, myth, and legend.
The left-handed ace of staff began to etch the latest chapter in the history of the San Francisco Giants with yet another one of his many tall tales by displaying his ability to dominate those who stand in the way of victory both with a ball in his left hand and a bat in his right hand.
Yet, the man who many call Mad Bum is merely a mortal despite his Herculean displays of pitching brilliance and cannot account for every department of his team, particularly the one whose collapse directly led to their elimination by the eventual World Series champions in early-October.
Despite his eleven strikeouts on the mound coupled with two jaw-dropping home runs in the batter’s box to become the first pitcher to homer twice on Opening Day, Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants could not break the seal in the win column, falling 6-5 due to the Arizona Diamondbacks by way Derek Law and Mark Melancon blown saves.
San Francisco’s first lap in the 162-game marathon ended on a bitter note, but initially appeared to have all the characteristics of what would have been the team’s fourth straight win on Opening Day. Through five innings, the game which devolved into San Francisco’s season-opening loss could have been labeled the Madison Bumgarner Show, and for strikingly obvious reasons.
Bumgarner pounced on the Diamondbacks from the jump, efficiently setting down the first 16 batters he faced, eight of which came by way of the strikeout. San Francisco’s ace wasn’t passive in the game’s early going, attacking the strike zone early and often to get ahead in the count.
San Francisco clinged to a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the fifth. With the way Bumgarner put up bagels in the first four frames, the Giants may have only required the one run, but the southpaw wanted to give himself some breathing room on the mound.
Bumgarner dug his cleats into the batter’s box for his second direct head-to-head match-up with Arizona’s Zack Greinke after drawing a walk in his first plate appearance, a 3-2 walk which continued to run up Greinke’s already high pitch count.
Greinke was on the verge of besting his counterpart and worked the count to 1-2, a count which warrants feeding Bumgarner chaseable breaking balls down in the zone.
Instead of attempting to finish him off, Greinke left a fastball up in the zone, the perfect pitch and perfect location for Bumgarner to send that pitch well over the wall in left-center. Bumgarner’s first home run of the day put his career total at 15, tying Johnny Antonelli and Hal Schumacher for the Giants’ franchise record for most long balls by a pitcher.
There was plenty of ballgame left when Bumgarner went yard, but the home run felt similar to a finishing blow for a Diamondback team which the lefty had on the ropes. Bumgarner already asserted his dominance on both sides of the ball and Arizona could do nothing but succumb to the ace’s ways. In the bottom half of the inning, Bumgarner struck out two on route to another one-two-three inning.
The man could do no wrong, but in a matter of three batters, Arizona ruined Bumgarner’s chance for perfection and a shutout, then tied the ballgame up. In a flash, San Francisco’s 3-0 lead turned into a 3-3 tie.
After Bumgarner retired the first batter of the sixth inning with another strikeout, Jeff Mathis ended the perfect game and put the Diamondbacks in the hit column with a rare left field triple. Gorkys Hernandez, who replaced Jarrett Parker as a pinch-hitter in the top of the inning, couldn’t find a grip on the ball and allowed Mathis to extend a double into a triple.
Nick Ahmed followed up the triple with a single to drive in Mathis, but A.J. Pollock provided the morale-crushing blow, barely getting a home run over the left field fence to tie the ballgame up at three apiece. In a matter of three batters, Bumgarner’s date with destiny devolved into a mere quality start.
Bumgarner, as expected, was visibly frustrated with himself as he walked back to the dugout after retiring the final batter of the inning. Lost in Arizona’s three-run inning was the fact that Bumgarner struck out the side, but San Francisco’s ace couldn’t enjoy the satisfaction with his lead lost.
Instead of taking a backseat to the offense, Bumgarner once again looked to strike and strike he did. Arizona southpaw Andrew Chafin failed to learn from Greinke’s mistake and left a fastball right over the plate and Bumgarner delivered a moonshot which cleared the bullpen. Chafin knew from the sound the ball was immediately gone and could only continue to walk towards home plate after following through with his delivery.
With that blast, Bumgarner not only gave San Francisco a 4-3 lead, but became the team’s all-time leader in home runs by a pitcher, the second Giant pitcher to hit two home runs in a game, and the fourth Giant to hit two home runs on Opening Day.
Unfortunately for Bumgarner, the shortcomings of San Francisco’s bullpen would overshadow his historic achievement.
Law inherited a one-run lead heading into the eighth inning, but allowed three straight singles, the last of which tied up the ballgame, before Bochy pulled him from the game in favor of Ty Blach and Hunter Strickland.
San Francisco once again reclaimed the lead in the top of the ninth inning by way of a Joe Panik triple off the top of the huge wall in center field followed by a sacrifice fly by Conor Gillaspie, paving the way for Melancon’s first save opportunity as a Giant.
Melancon handled the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth inning with ease, striking out Brandon Drury and getting David Peralta to ground out with a little help from an amazing defensive play by Panik in which he dove to his right to snare a grounder, then fired over to first.
San Francisco’s $62 million man looked well on his way to recording his first save with the orange and black, but the wheels quickly fell off and the Giants had their second blown save of the day. Melancon allowed four consecutive hits, a double followed by three singles, and a sure win turned into a reincarnation of last year’s bullpen meltdown in Game 4 of the NLDS.