San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Bumgarner Sound, Lincecum on Mound

In this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss Bumgarner finding sound mechanics, offensive patterns, Lincecum returning to the mound.

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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Thursday, the Giants wrapped up their four-game series with the Atlanta Braves, with a 6-0 win in their last ever game at Turner Field in Atlanta, clinching a series split. Madison Bumgarner was the winner for the seventh time, while Aaron Blair took his third loss.

For the first time in 11 days, the Los Angeles Dodger had a different result than the Giants, as they lost to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. The Giants’ lead in the division jumps up to 5.5 games.

Here’s what went down on Thursday.

1 – Bumgarner’s Dominance Continues

Bumgarner has been nothing short of absolutely dominant this year, but Thursday was a little different. In 7.2 shutout innings, Bumgarner allowed four hits and matched his season-high with 11 strikeouts. After earning his seventh win of the season, Bumgarner said it was the “best he felt in a year and a half” with his delivery.

A guy who now owns a 1.91 ERA, a 1.088 WHIP, and 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings has been dealing with flawed mechanics all season, and is just now starting to feel good about his delivery. He’s been mowing through hitters at the best rate of his career, but was doing so with mechanics with which he was unhappy. It must be demoralizing as a hitter to know that this kid, only 26 years old, wasn’t firing on all cylinders, and may now be figuring things out.

Watch out, National League.

2 – The Beauty of Patterns

A well-executed pattern can be a beautiful thing, and the Giants executed one of the best patterns they could in the fifth inning on Thursday. The pattern started with the inning’s leadoff hitter, Gregor Blanco. The Giants’ left fielder drew a five-pitch walk off Blair, setting himself up at first for the game’s best pitcher-slugger, Bumgarner.

On the first pitch, Bumgarner crushed a get-it-in fastball 411 feet for his second home run of the season, and 13th of his career, making him the active pitcher with the most home runs hit. The ball came off Bumgarner’s bat at 109 miles per hour, making it the second-hardest hit home run ball by a Giant this year (Brandon Crawford’s 110.8-mph blast off James Shields on May 19th remains at the top of the list).

The pattern began again with Denard Span drawing a seven-pitch walk off Blair. Joe Panik followed with a two-run home run, his sixth of the season, on the first pitch of the at-bat. Matt Duffy drew a free pass of a different kind (was hit by a curveball on his elbow pad). Buster Posey followed suit, crushing the first-pitch fastball well out of the park in left field for his eighth home run of the season.

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Brandon Belt tried to keep the pattern alive, drawing a walk from new pitcher Eric O’Flaherty, but Brandon Crawford could only muster an infield single on the first pitch of the next at-bat. Even the best patterns must end some time.

3 – Tim Lincecum Makes Angels’ Affiliate Debut

Tim Lincecum returned to the mound on Thursday, pitching for the Los Angeles Angels’ Triple-A affiliate, the Salt Lake Bees. Pitching on a pro mound for the first time in over 10 months, the diminutive right-hander had his ups and downs, as expected.

He started shakily, giving up a single, a double, and a walk before tripping on the mound during his delivery, resulting in a run-scoring balk. After a sacrifice fly to score another run and a groundout, Lincecum recorded his first strikeout to end the inning. Lincecum walked the leadoff batter in the second inning, who scored following a sacrifice bunt and a base hit.

Lincecum recorded the final two outs in the second in order, beginning a string of nine straight batters retired. He struck out three batters between perfect third and fourth innings, and added another to begin the fifth.

He got a bit of a wild hair up his nose in the fifth, as he issued a one-out walk, followed by a hit-by-pitch. He retired the next two batters in order to end the threat.

Overall, Lincecum pitched five innings, gave up three hits and three runs, while striking out five and walking three. 48 of his 88 pitches were for strikes.

Next: Giants Morning Minute: A Long Look at Casilla

And that will do it for this edition of the Giants Morning Minute. Up next, the Giants make their final stop on the three-city, 10-game road trip, facing the St. Louis Cardinals for three games. Johnny Cueto takes on the familiar foe, with Adam Wainwright his opposite.