Opening Day seemed to have all the makings of a special day: clutch hitting, strikeouts galore, and a new shiny toy in the ninth inning to send everyone home happy. Then, just as quickly as Madison Bumgarner’s second home run left the park, the rug was pulled out from beneath the Giants’ feet.
It took about five months for Giants fans to forget how last season ended with the implosion of the bullpen, and just seven more innings today to remember it. Madison Bumgarner was stellar over his first five innings of work, tossing a perfect game into the sixth and striking out seven. He complimented the brilliant start to his outing when he hit his second career home run off of Diamondbacks starter Zack Greinke in the top of the fifth, staking the Giants a 2-0 lead. Eduardo Nunez added a run with an RBI single in the sixth inning.
Bumgarner ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth when he allowed a one-out triple to Jeff Mathis, followed by a single to Nick Ahmed. Bumgarner battled the next hitter, A.J. Pollock to an 0-2 count before he hit a laser-beam home run over the left field wall to tie the game 3-3. The Giants stuck with their ace lefty and it paid off in the top of the seventh when Bumgarner became the first pitcher in Major League Baseball history to hit multiple home runs on Opening Day. The home run put the Giants up 4-3.
The eighth inning proved to be the same problem the Giants had all of last year as Derek Law allowed three straight hits and a run that tied the game. Ty Blach and Hunter Strickland battled out of the inning, keeping the game tied.
Joe Panik led off the ninth with a triple before Conor Gillaspie hit a sacrifice fly for the lead.
It seemed like a storybook ending for the Giants when they turned to their shiny new toy in Mark Melancon, but that feeling was short-lived. After a strikeout and a ground out Melancon allowed a double to Mathis and then back-to-back singles to Descalso and Pollock. On a 1-2 count the new Giants closer gave up a base hit to Chris Owings and just like that, the game was over.
It seems the problems for the Giants were the same today as they were five months ago: Get to the ninth inning with the lead and hang onto it. This is a tough one to sit on with the off day tomorrow but they’ll be back at it on Tuesday night when Johnny Cueto takes the mound in Arizona.
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