San Francisco Giants: Classic Bumgarner Start a Welcome Sign

The San Francisco Giants received a classic Bumgarner start on Thursday, a welcome development as they try to make a run at the postseason.

There had been something missing in Madison Bumgarner’s first three starts. The San Francisco Giants’ ace was, understandably, not quite himself in the immediate aftermath of his activation from the disabled list. He didn’t have his pinpoint command to both sides of the plate and his put-away pitches weren’t quite working.

That wasn’t necessarily a bad sign. A pitcher coming off an injury to his pitching hand that cost him a couple months probably isn’t going to be excellent immediately upon return. That was the case with Bumgarner. He wasn’t excellent, but he still was good enough to give his team a chance to win.

He wasn’t off his game to the point that people never thought he’d get it back, but it was still a bit frustrating to see Bumgarner not be that classic, dominant Bumgarner, especially with the rest of the rotation a rather large question mark.

That classic, dominant Bumgarner was back on Thursday. In the series opener against the San Diego Padres, the big lefty again put the team on his back and carried them to a win, just like old times. Over eight innings, he kept the Padres off the board and allowed just three hits and two walks (one intentional). He also drove in the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly to break a scoreless tie in the fifth inning.

It was truly a vintage Bumgarner game. He not only pitched a wonderful game, a game that his team needed, he also showed off his competency at the plate by getting the productive, run-scoring out. Both are great signs for the Giants.

More from Golden Gate Sports

Bumgarner was able to do his thing by following the age-old formula to pitching. Get strike one, work the corners, and make hitters chase when behind in the count. He threw first-pitch strikes to 70 percent of hitters on Thursday, a season-high. He worked the edges of the strikezone, both inside and outside, with all his pitches better than he did in any of his first three starts.

Finally, when he had a chance to put guys away, he was able to do it. When hitters swung at pitches outside the zone, they missed 40 percent of the time, by far the best performance in that area for Bumgarner in this short season (previous high was 31 percent). That led to eight strikeouts in eight innings, after he struck out nine batters in 17.1 innings in his first three starts.

He also became the first Giant pitcher to complete eight innings this season. Ty Blach had once gone 7.2 innings, and seven other times a Giant had gone seven, but no one had gotten that 24th out before Bumgarner did it on Thursday. He needed 100 pitches to get those outs, so had the Giants entered the bottom of the eighth with more than a one-run lead, Bumgarner might have gotten a chance at the ninth.

That may not seem like much, but it gives the bullpen a chance to reset. Mark Melancon was the only reliever to work on Bumgarner’s day, so everyone else got a much-needed rest. The bullpen has thrown the fifth-most innings in the league, and was in serious danger of being overworked. Getting a long start like Thursday’s helps all those guys out.

And for all the problems the Padres have had in recent years, they keep giving the Giants fits. They beat San Francisco 12 times in 19 games last season, and despite being in last place, had won four of the first seven meetings this year. So the “it’s only the Padres” argument kind of goes out the window when the Padres seem to save their best baseball for the Giants.

Next: 3 Up, 3 Down: Frustrating Fish

Thursday’s win gets the Giants back to .500, and in a division that has had more than their fair share of troubles winning games, are only four games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place (they’re also climbing back into the wildcard race, being 3.5 games back). Bumgarner threw a beauty, and two other big name pitchers will be back soon (Jeff Samardzija threw his second rehab start on Thursday and Johnny Cueto starts his rehab on Saturday. With their ace back and leading the way, the Giants are in the best position they can be to make a run. They still have to take advantage, but this is their best opportunity.

Home/San Francisco Giants