SAN FRANCISCO — It hasn’t been often that the Giants (48-28) finish on the wrong side of a one-run game, but they could never make up for Madison Bumgarner’s (8-4, 1.99 ERA) three-run seventh inning. The Phillies (32-44) won, 3-2, handing Bumgarner his first home loss since April 20. Here’s how things unfolded Saturday night.
The big moment
Cameron Rupp is 6-foot-2 and 260 pounds. He’s built to hit for power, and strangely enough as a right-handed hitter, hadn’t hit a home run off a lefty this year. Then this happened, quieting a sellout crowd.
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At the plate
As Bumgarner’s hitting ability has gone viral, it’s increasingly fascinating to watch how he’s pitched. With runners on second and third with two outs, Hellickson sailed two breaking balls outside to Bumgarner. The Giants’ ace doesn’t own a hit with a runner in scoring position this year, but Helickson and Cameron Rupp met on the mound anyway. Bumgarner walked, only adding to his aura as a hitter. It’s possible he might be overly feared, but which opposing pitcher wants to be SportsCenter’s opening highlight?
Bumgarner’s walk loaded the bases, allowing Gregor Blanco to knock in the Giants first run when Tommy Joseph muffed a slow ground ball. Hellickson escaped the inning after 28 pitches, but was put on blast again the following inning. Joe Panik and Brandon Belt led off with singles, and Posey pushed the Giants’ lead out, 2-0, with a sacrifice fly to right.
The Giants last gasp came in the eighth inning, putting two runners on for Brandon Crawford, hitting .343 with runners in scoring position. He lined one to left field, but Jimmy Paredes slid to make the catch and pick off Panik at second base.
On the mound
On the anniversary of Tim Lincecum’s second no-hitter against the Padres, Bumgarner looked like he was piecing together his own. He picked apart the Phillies through four innings, striking out four looking and facing the minimum despite a walk and an error.
But leading off the fifth inning, Maikel Franco slashed a hanging slider down the left-field line for a double. He advanced to third on a wild pitch, but that’s where he remained as the following three hitters made unproductive outs.
Bumgarner dominated for nearly all of his 6.1 innings, but came undone awfully quick. Andres Blanco drew the Phillies within a run, bouncing an RBI single through Bumgarner’s glove. He pounded his fist in it as Tommy Joseph came across to score, and the frustration snowballed into the next hitter. Rupp smashed a home run to the kale garden in center field, suddenly putting the Phillies ahead by a run.
It was the first time since April 15 Bumgarner allowed more than two earned runs to score.
In the ‘pen
Trying to avoid Santiago Casilla and Cory Gearrin, Bochy turned to George Kontos for nearly two innings of work. He finished the seventh inning for Bumgarner, and pitched a clean eighth inning on 20 total pitches. Hunter Strickland worked around a leadoff single to end the ninth inning on a double play.
On deck
The Giants finally escaped the scope of ESPN, and Sunday afternoon baseball returns to AT&T Park. Johnny Cueto (11-1, 2.06 ERA) takes the hill against Aaron Nola (5-7, 4.11), who has not received 25 runs of support in his last two starts like Cueto. The right-hander has allowed four runs in four starts this month.