San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Bumgarner’s Presence Leads to Winning Run
In this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss Bumgarner’s presence at the plate, and Belt’s injury.
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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Tuesday, the Giants clinched a series win over the Milwaukee Brewers, beating them 3-2 to extend their winning streak to four games. They are now 16-7 in one-run games on the year. Madison Bumgarner was the winner, while Will Smith took the loss.
The Los Angeles Dodgers also won on Tuesday, so the Giants’ lead in the National League West remains six games. The Colorado Rockies also won their third straight game, and are now two games on the losing side of .500, and two games back from the Dodgers for second place.
Here’s what went on Tuesday.
1 – Bumgarner’s Presence Leads to Game-Winning Run
Madison Bumgarner is the best hitting pitcher in baseball, and it would be difficult to make an argument otherwise. When he stepped to the plate in the seventh inning with Angel Pagan, the go-ahead run, 180 feet away at second base, it wasn’t Bumgarner that brought home that game-winning run. Rather, it was simply his presence at the plate.
In a tight spot, the pitcher coming up to hit should be a nearly automatic out for Brewers’ pitcher Will Smith. But with no ordinary pitcher in the box, Smith wasn’t going to challenge Bumgarner. Instead, he threw two straight breaking balls to start the at-bat. The first was a curveball that bounced in front of home plate and away from catcher Jonathan Lucroy, allowing Pagan (and Gregor Blanco, who was on first base) to advance 90 feet. The next pitch was a slider that bounced just barely in front of Bumgarner’s toes, and like the preceding pitch, squibbled away from Lucroy and brought home Pagan, putting the Giants ahead for good.
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Bumgarner saw three more pitches in the at-bat, and the lone fastball was well off the plate inside. He worked his second walk of the day (the first time in his career he’s done that), and added a single as well.
On a night where the offense squandered opportunity after opportunity, stranding 13 total baserunners and two in each of the first six innings, the lineup needed something big to happen. That “big” thing was Bumgarner just standing at home plate.
Oh, and he pitched pretty darn good as well. In eight innings, he gave up two runs on four hits and a walk, while striking out eight to cross the 100-strikeout mark on the season. Even with that dominant performance, his ERA rose, from 1.88 to 1.91. What a season so far.
2 – Brandon Belt‘s Black Cloud Comes Back
In terms of unluckiest player in the league, Brandon Belt makes a pretty strong case to be atop the list, and his black cloud of bad luck reared its ugly head again on Tuesday. In the sixth inning, Torres pulled a 92-mile-per-hour fastball inside to Belt, hitting him on the right foot, his lead foot, just below the ankle. Belt went down almost immediately and was in clear pain. He regrouped and took his place at first, but after a ginger run to second base on Buster Posey‘s fourth hit of the day and a half-inning in the field, he was removed from the game.
X-rays were taken after the game, and came back negative, so that’s really good news. But not to play party pooper too much, this does invoke memories of Nori Aoki last season. Aoki was hit on the ankle by a pitch last season, stayed in the game, took third base on a double, and scored on a sacrifice fly before he was taken out. His initial x-rays came back negative, but were distorted because of the swelling. He actually had a fracture in his ankle, and missed just over a month.
Sorry for the buzzkill, but let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself in Belt’s case. He has been a rock in the Giants’ lineup so far this season, with his .301/.412/.514 slash-line and 27 extra-base hits. His presence is a must in the everyday lineup.
Next: Giants Morning Minute: Cain Shaky, Offense Not
And that will do it for the Giants Morning Minute. Up next, the Giants and Brewers finish their three-game series before the Giants head on the road for a day off in Tampa Bay. Johnny Cueto goes for his 10th win, opposed by the Brewers’ Jimmy Nelson, who was been quite good this season.