Madison Bumgarner's 100th career win was a long time in coming. It only took an offensive barrage, a few snot rockets, and a good body slam to accomplish it.
A seven-run sixth inning coupled with a starter determined to be carried out of the game on his shield kept the Giants hopes for wildcard bid alive as San Francisco toppled division champion Los Angeles by a 9-3 final Friday night at AT&T Park.
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| We could use a bit of fire, eh? (CSN Bay Area) |
It was a win that was desperately needed. St. Louis, fresh off of Thursday's gift victory against Cincinnati, pummeled Pittsburgh earlier in the evening to put on the pressure. The Giants had to win to retain sole possession of the final wild-card spot. New York, also a winner on Thursday, clinched at least a tie for one of the two available wildcard berths.
Bumgarner might be forgiven if he thought this day would never come. The milestone win, his 15th of the season, came after the Giants bullpen had blown eight different opportunities for him to get a win and after six other quality starts had resulted in no victories.
It wasn't easy. Bumgarner wasn't his once-dominant self in the early going, giving up four hits and two runs in the top of the first. However the Giants had some fight on this night, answering back with to their own in the bottom half of the frame to get their ace even.
Gorkys Hernandez opened up the Giants half of that inning with a double down the left field line, and Brandon Belt followed with a base on balls. Buster Posey cashed in the first of what proved to be many tallies with a base hit, and after a ground ball advanced Belt to third a sacrifice fly from Angel Pagan got the Giants even.
For all of the first-inning fireworks, both Bumgarner and Dodgers starter Rich Hill settled down through five. The only real excitement came in the fourth when two seriously-misguided individuals decided to occupy the field. One made the mistake of straying too close to Pagan, who went WWE on the fool and quickly body slammed him to the turf -- prompting cheers from the crowd and half a dozen video requests from NFL defenses.
Hill left after five. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, reliever Brandon McCarthy got shelled. Seriously rocked. He got beaten like Donald Trump at the first presidential debate. The Dodgers had taken a 3-2 lead on three singles in the top of the inning, then the sky fell in. Sweaters off the clearance rack at H&M don't come apart that fast.
The Dodgers had taken a 3-2 lead on three singles in the top of the sixth. then the sky fell in. Sweaters off the clearance rack at H&M don't unravel that fast.
McCarthy committed the cardinal sin of waking the lead-off man, putting Pagan at first. Singles by Brandon Crawford and Kelby Tomlinson loaded the bases before Connor Gillaspie unloaded them with a two-run double that put the Giants back on top 4-3.
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| This guy had a really bad night. (SF Giants/Twitter) |
That was the appetizer. The meat of the meal came when Bumgarner himself smashed a double down the left field line to send Tomlinson and Gillaspie home. LA Manager and former Giants DFA Dave Roberts came with the hook but Josh Ravin fared no better. Brandon Belt's three-run jack to center put the G-men up by the final score.
Bumgarner finally relinquished the ball with one out in the eighth, having thrown 107 pitches. Uncharacteristically he only struck out five against one walk, scattering eight hits. Derek Law was the first Giants reliever to be entrusted with holding that advantage, finishing the frame with a strikeout of Yassiel Puig (yes we're looking at you) and some defensive wizardry courtesy Crawford.
The game got so one-sided hat Santiago Casilla was able to pitch the ninth inning sans drama and nary a boo. Next, dogs and Cats living in domestic bliss.
The Jekyl-Hyde San Francisco offense showed it's good side, racking up a bakers' dozen in the hit column. Crawford and Belt clubbed three hits each; Bumgarner added a pair; with Posey, Span, Tomlinson and Gillaspie nettting one each.
So the dream stays alive. At 85-75 the Giants trail the Mets by a full game with two to play and hold that same edge over St. Louis, with the three team fighting for two postseason slots.
San Francisco will try to stake it's claim to one of those on Saturday. Ty Blach (0-0, 2.00) is expected to get the call but rumblings late Friday were that Albert Suarez might get the call against Clayton Kershaw. (12-3, 1.65).
It's all playoff baseball now.
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