Madison Bumgarner Roughed Up; San Francisco Giants Lose To Padres 6-4
By Phil Watson
Apr 28, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) pitches against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Home has been anything but sweet for San Francisco Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner, who gave up five runs in five innings Monday night in a 6-4 loss to the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Giants (15-11) and Bumgarner is now 1-3 with a 6.20 ERA in four starts at home.
The Padres (13-14) did most of their damage in a two-inning stretch, during which backup catcher Rene Rivera drove in five runs—increasing his season RBI total to five.
San Diego took a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Brandon Crawford couldn’t come up with Tommy Medina’s ground ball and Alexi Amarista doubled to center to put runners at second and third before Rivera grounded a double down the left-field line to score both runners.
The Giants got them all back, and then some, off San Diego starter Tyson Ross (3-3) in the bottom of the fourth.
Angel Pagan led off the winning with a single and scored on Hunter Pence’s triple to center. Brandon Belt walked and, after Buster Posey struck out, Belt moved up to second on a wild pitch. Michael Morse singled up the middle to score both runners and put San Francisco up 3-2.
But Rivera wasn’t done with Bumgarner (2-3) just yet. Medica singled with one out in the fifth and Amarista walked before Rivera powered his first homer of the season to left-center field to put the Padres back on top 5-3.
Brandon Hicks—who won Sunday’s game with a walk-off homer—went deep again in the fifth, leading off with a homer to center field to pull the Giants to within a run.
It looked like the Giants might break through against Ross in the sixth. Posey doubled and Morse singled, with Crawford later drawing a walk to load the bases.
Nick Vincent came on in relief for the Padres and his second pitch was a slider that Hicks got a lot of, hitting it almost to the same spot his homer went on Sunday. But the ball fell short and Chris Denorfia made the catch on the warning track to end the inning.
San Diego added an insurance run in the ninth on an RBI groundout by Amarista.
Bumgarner was charged with four earned runs on seven hits in five innings, with four walks and five strikeouts. The ninth-inning run was charged to Javier Lopez—the first run he’s allowed this season. J.C. Gutierrez, Jeremy Affeldt and Jean Machi each worked a scoreless inning.
The Giants had nine hits, with Morse going 3-for-4 and Posey having a 2-for-4 night to raise his average to .250.
The series continues Tuesday at 7:15 p.m., with Matt Cain (0-3, 4.35 ERA) scheduled to start for San Francisco and left-hander Eric Stults (1-2, 4.15 ERA) next in the rotation for San Diego.