SAN FRANCISCO–Some nights, you win the lottery. On others, your ticket loses its value.
That’s the life of a Major League pitcher, and lately, Madison Bumgarner has fallen on hard luck.
Over his last two outings, Bumgarner has thrown 14 innings and surrendered just two earned runs, and his record in those starts is 0-1 with a no-decision.
On Friday night, Bumgarner flummoxed Arizona hitters for most of the evening, allowing just a pair of earned runs over seven innings of work. Yet when Bumgarner exited the game after throwing 104 pitches, his team trailed the Diamondbacks 2-1.
“He (Bumgarner) pitched great,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “He threw a great game, two runs there, gave us a chance to win, we just couldn’t figure out a young starter which isn’t the first time this has happened.”
After taking the loss on Friday evening, Bumgarner’s record dropped to 1-5, but his earned run average actually improved, from 2.92 to 2.88. Earned run average is widely recognized as a much stronger indicator of a pitcher’s performance than a player’s win-loss record, and after the game, Bochy expressed that sentiment.
Bochy also expressed disappointment that San Francisco mustered just one run with its ace on the hill, as it marked the fifth time in nine Bumgarner starts this year that the Giants have scored one run or fewer on Bumgarner’s behalf.
“I wish I could think of a reason,” Bochy said. “I’d try to fix this for him He’s got one win and you look at his ERA and how he’s throwing the ball and that’s why wins for a starter, they can throw that number out, really. He’s probably agreeing with me right now because he’s pitched well enough to have more than one win. But it’s all about run support and tonight he just couldn’t get it but he did a nice job.”
After his outing, Bumgarner was told that Bochy said he wished a pitcher’s record could be disregarded, and he essentially shrugged his shoulders. Bumgarner is one of the fiercest competitors on the Giants’ roster, and regardless of how his offense performs, he’s intent on giving his team the best opportunity possible to win.
On Friday, Bumgarner turned in another excellent effort, but in the end, the Giants couldn’t offer him enough help.
“I don’t know, I’m not pitching for individual numbers,” Bumgarner said. “I don’t care what it is. I’m going out there trying to give us a chance to win. It’s unfortunate that we haven’t got a lot of wins when I’ve been out there but it don’t change the fact that me and everybody else are doing what we can do to do that. It’s a funny game, sometimes, baseball is for sure. No doubt about that.”