SAN FRANCISCO– The Giants stormed into the All Star break with the best record in baseball. Two weeks later, they are 2-9 in the second half and limping into a four-game set with the NL East-leading Washington Nationals.
San Francisco has only outscored six other lineups in MLB since the break, and is hitting just .241 as a team in the 11-game stretch. On Wednesday afternoon, the team squandered a gem of a performance by Madison Bumgarner and backed him up with just four hits and a lone run. Take out Bumgarner’s own eighth-inning single, and the Giants registered just a solo home run and two singles en route to a 2-1 defeat against Cincinnati.
This paltry offensive showing from the Giants marked the 9th time in Bumgarner’s last 10 starts that he has failed to receive more than four runs of support.
“That’s just the way things go sometimes,” Bumgarner said of the poor run support. “It don’t change your thought process [on the mound], at least for me anyway.”
Giants hitters were remorseful about their performances behind Bumgarner of late, and manager Bruce Bochy also acknowledged the lack of help his ace has gotten since the beginning of June.
There weren’t many specifics offered by the team or its coach on what kinds of adjustments can help turn the slump around, but there was a prevailing optimism given the team’s run of success in this decade.
“We’re hitting some rough patches here and there, but that’s part of it,” Conor Gillespie said. “I’m really excited to play every time [Bumgarner] pitchers, so it’s tough, but we’ll have to keep our heads up, and I’m sure down the road at some point we’re gonna pick him up.”
Poor days at the plate are magnified when they come against weaker pitchers, which certainly was the case on Wednesday. Reds starter Dan Straily entered the game with a 4.08 ERA in games he started, and he threw a season-high 7.2 innings while allowing just one run.
Bochy and Buster Posey both credited Straily for having a strong outing and pounding the strike zone deceptively. Posey struggled his way to an 0-4 day at the plate, despite launching a shot to the warning track in the 9th with a runner on.
“He pounded the strike zone with all his pitches, we just had a hard time trying to figure him out,” Bochy said. “We just couldn’t get some guys on base to put some pressure on them.”
The Giants will face three pitchers with sub-3.50 ERAs and winning records in their next three games against Washington, so the burden will be on the lineup to produce a quick turnaround and supply their staff with run support if they hope to win the series.
As for Bumgarner’s run support specifically, he was adamant that it doesn’t affect his mindset or performance, and his hitters were insistent that they would continue to try to back him up well. Posey said it’s always unfortunate to struggle for the team’s ace, but noted that slow stretches are bound to happen throughout a 162-game season.
“We’re trying to score as many runs as we can every day,” Posey said. “It’s just a matter of trying to get back on track as quickly as possible. You want to try to make adjustments and start going in the right direction as quick as you can.”