Bumgarner falls short of Oracle Park history
SAN FRANCISCO -- Madison Bumgarner’s bid for Oracle Park history will have to wait a little longer.
Bumgarner allowed only a two-run home run to Jorge Alfaro over seven innings to record his 20th quality start of the season, but he received little help from his offense and came away with a no-decision after the Marlins rallied for a 4-2 win over the Giants on Saturday night at Oracle Park.
Donovan Solano’s pinch-hit, two-run triple tied the game at 2 in the seventh inning, but the Marlins came back to score the decisive runs off rookie Shaun Anderson in the eighth, setting up a rubber game for Sunday’s series finale. The Giants have scored only eight runs over their last four games and have lost 10 of their last 13 home games.
The loss kept Bumgarner at 60 career home wins, tied with former teammate Matt Cain for the most among pitchers at Oracle Park. If the Giants decide to keep him on normal rest for the remainder of the season, Bumgarner will have two more chances to take sole possession of the record.
The 30-year-old left-hander continued to show that he remains a frontline pitcher, especially at Oracle Park, where he’s logged a 2.23 ERA over his last 15 home starts. Bumgarner leads National League starters with 195 2/3 innings and is closing in on his seventh career 200-inning campaign and first since 2016.
“I thought he was great tonight,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Really, really good. Efficient job. One pitch there left the ballpark. Overall, seven innings, two runs, that’s pretty nice work. We’re just struggling here offensively.”
Bumgarner opened his outing Saturday with six scoreless innings before surrendering a 473-foot blast to Alfaro in the seventh. Alfaro crushed a down-and-in curveball from Bumgarner halfway up the left-field bleachers, marking the second-longest home run hit at Oracle Park tracked by Statcast.
“He did a really good job,” Bumgarner said. “That was a pretty good spot, I thought, to throw it. He just hit it. Obviously, looking back, I should have done something different, but I like the pitch. I like the location right there. That pitch in that spot gets a lot of swings and misses for me, and ground balls, too. Unfortunately, not in that case.”
Still, the Giants came back to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning on Solano’s clutch triple. Brandon Crawford sparked the Giants’ rally with a one-out single and advanced to third on a double by Mauricio Dubon to put runners on second and third against Marlins rookie Robert Dugger. Bochy initially sent the left-handed-hitting Chris Shaw to hit for Bumgarner, prompting Marlins skipper Don Mattingly to lift Dugger in favor of left-hander Brian Moran.
Bochy countered by pulling back Shaw and replacing him with Solano, who drove a 2-1 fastball to right-center-field for a game-tying triple, his first of the season. The Giants couldn’t drive in the go-ahead run, however, as Mike Gerber grounded out and Brandon Belt flied out to end the inning.
Anderson, who converted two saves in closer Will Smith’s absence earlier this week, took the mound in the eighth in a setup role, but he allowed the Marlins to regain the lead on a pair of doubles by Neil Walker and Miguel Rojas. Lewis Brinson added an insurance run with a two-out RBI single.
Bumgarner’s upcoming free agency will loom over the final two weeks of the regular season. If he continues to pitch every fifth day, he would be lined up to face the Dodgers in Bochy’s final game as manager on Sept. 29, adding more emotional weight to the Giants’ regular-season finale.
Bumgarner, stoic as always, said he has not begun to look that far ahead.
“Just same deal,” Bumgarner said. “Just take it one game at a time. Who knows what the future holds? You can’t get caught up in that. We had a ballgame to win today, and I did my best to give us a chance to win. That’s all you can really do.”