San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Bumgarner Dials In, Streaks Live and Die

By Sean Bialaszek | May 18, 2016

May 17, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres first baseman Wil Myers (4) and San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) talk during the ninth inning after Bumgarner reached first on a walk at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /

On the edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss Bumgarner dialing in, Bumgarner’s backup, and streaks living and dying.

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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants’ Morning Minute. On Tuesday, the Giants opened a three-games series with the San Diego Padres with a 5-1 win, pushing their already season-best win streak to six games. Madison Bumgarner was the victor, winning his fifth game, while rookie Colin Rea took the loss.

San Francisco improves to 23-18 on the year, and are a season-high five games on the winning side. They are 1.5 games ahead of the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. Here’s what went on Tuesday night.

1 – Madison Bumgarner Dials In

Giants’ ace Bumgarner has been pitching well this season, with a rotation-low 2.72 ERA and four wins in six decisions, but he just seemed to be missing a little something. It seems like he figured something out on Tuesday night.

Bumgarner entered the game allowing 3.3 walks per nine innings, on pace to be the worst mark of his career, and throwing a rotation-worst 64.6 percent of his pitches for strikes. Over nine innings Tuesday, Bumgarner struck out a season-high 11 Padres’ hitters, including placing the golden sombrero on Adam Rosales‘ head, and didn’t walk anyone.

The big lefty walks out of Petco Park third in the majors with 71 strikeouts, behind only Clayton Kershaw (six straight 10-plus strikeout games) and Max Scherzer (Mr. 20 Strikeouts). He allowed zero walks for the first time this season, dropping his walk rate to 2.8 per nine innings. 76 of his 108 pitches (70.4 percent) were strikes.

Bumgarner just missed the second shutout by a Giants’ pitcher this season, but Matt Kemp ruined it in the ninth because he hates fun. Still, Bumgarner finished their second complete game, lowered his ERA and WHIP to 2.45 and 1.176, respectively, and showed that the very lethal Bumgarner is very near.

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As for the three-headed monster at the top of the Giants’ rotation, the trio of Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, and Jeff Samardzija own a combined 2.76 ERA and 1.152 WHIP through 25 starts and 172.2 innings thrown. The Giants are 18-7 on the days they start.

2 – Bumgarner Gets Some Help

Bumgarner was great on Tuesday, but as always, he got by with some help from his friends. On the second pitch of the game, Padres’ leadoff man Wil Myers crushed a ball into center field. Center fielder Denard Span got a great jump on the ball, breaking back and to his right. In a full sprint, Span reached up and made a leaping grab, keeping Myers off the basepaths to open the game.

In the sixth inning, Bumgarner found himself in a jam. Brett Wallace led off with a single and Myers added a double later, leaving runners on second and third with two men out. Facing Matt Kemp, Bumgarner forced the Padres’ number three hitter to pop a flyball into foul territory down the right field line. Brandon Belt used his long strides to reach that pop-up and snag it before it could bounce off the turf, ending the inning and the threat.

Of course, Bumgarner needed some offense to back him up, and that was where Brandon Crawford came in. He crushed a three-run home run in the second inning, contributed a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and added another run with a double in the eighth, giving him a season-high five runs batted in. That was more than enough for Bumgarner.

3 – Streaks Live, Streaks Die

While the Giants ran their season-best winning streak to six games, Belt kept going with his own streak. With his double in the second-inning, Belt reached base for the 24th consecutive game, matching the longest streak of his career, which he set last year. Belt also added a single in the third inning, making this the 17th time during the streak that he’s reached base multiple times.

While some streaks carried on Tuesday, another streak was laid to rest. In the seventh inning, Matt Duffy was caught stealing by the duo of Derek Norris and Carlos Villanueva. It was the first time Duffy had been caught stealing since 2014 during his first taste of big league action, ending a string of 16 consecutive successful stolen base attempts. Duffy was a perfect 12-for-12 last season, and started this year with four in a row.

Next: Giants Morning Minute: Cain Keeps Rolling

That’s it for today’s Giants Morning Minute. Up next, San Francisco continues their series with the Padres, handing the ball to Johnny Cueto looking to extend their win streak to seven games. He’ll be opposed by Drew Pomeranz, who owns a very nice 1.80 ERA on the year.

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