SAN FRANCISCO — For the third time this month, Madison Bumgarner turned in a start with one or less earned runs allowed. He’s got only one win to show for it, and it didn’t come on Wednesday afternoon. The left-hander dominated over eight innings, striking out nine and issuing no walks. But he couldn’t shake the home run bug, and a seventh-inning drive by Jay Bruce cemented a 2-1 loss.
The Dodgers lost at home to the Rays, keeping the Giants’ NL West lead at 2.5 games. The loss is the Giants’ ninth in the last 11 games. Here’s more on Wednesday afternoon at AT&T Park.
The big moment
Jay Bruce unloaded his sixth home run in his last five games, which sealed a series win for the last-place Reds.
At the plate
Outside of allowing home runs, the Giants’ greatest struggle has been hitting with runners in scoring position. That wasn’t a problem on Wednesday afternoon. The team didn’t take a single at-bat with a runner past first base. Conor Gillaspie provided the offense’s only jolt with a third-inning home run that stood after a replay review. He also came the closest to tying the game with an eighth-inning drive that died on the center field warning track.
Reds right-hander Dan Straily turned in one of the best outings of his career. He allowed three hits over 7 2/3 innings, exiting after Bumgarner roped a single to left field.
On the mound
For the Giants, and even National League pitching as a whole, Bumgarner has been a source of strength. He’s shouldered more innings than anyone else and the Giants have won a majority of his starts. But not even he is immune to the Giants’ plague right now: home runs, and more specifically, Jay Bruce.
The Reds outfielder slugged his fourth home run of the series in the seventh inning to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. That was the Giants’ eighth home run allowed this series, and 24th since the All-Star break. It spoiled an otherwise dominant outing from Bumgarner across eight innings.
The first time through the lineup, he breezed through the order perfectly on 39 pitches, and didn’t allow a hit until Joey Votto dribbled an infield single in the fourth inning. Aside from Bruce’s home run, the only stain on Bumgarner’s record came from Angel Pagan. The Giants outfielder dropped a line drive in the fifth inning that put runners on second and third with one out. Tucker Barnhart did his job and knocked a sacrifice fly to right field.
Bumgarner retired the last six hitters he faced, including a strikeout of Zack Cozart to end the eighth inning on 105 pitches.
In the ‘pen
Javier Lopez and Hunter Strickland teamed up to work a scoreless ninth inning.
On deck
The Giants will see a season’s worth of games against the Nationals in the next 11 days. Washington comes to AT&T Park on Thursday to begin a four-game series, and the teams will square off again at Nationals Park next weekend. It’ll be Johnny Cueto (13-2, 2.53 ERA) and Tanner Roark (9-6, 3.05 ERA) on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. Catch the action on KNBR 680.
Not to look too far ahead, but if rotations hold up, it looks like Stephen Strasburgh will square off with Bumgarner on Aug. 7, followed by Cueto and Jose Fernandez the next day in Miami. Good baseball coming down the pipeline.