SAN FRANCISCO–Every National League West team seems to have one.
Whether it’s the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado, the Dodgers’ Corey Seager, or even the Padres’ Hector Sanchez, every division rival seems to have a player the Giants just can’t seem to figure out.
For the Arizona Diamondbacks, it’s Paul Goldschmidt.
On a crisp Friday evening at AT&T Park, the Giants had ace Madison Bumgarner on the hill, and even that wasn’t enough to stop the player the D’Backs have dubbed “America’s First Baseman.”
In each of his first three at-bats, Goldschmidt recorded base hits against Bumgarner, including an RBI triple that put Arizona on the board in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the sixth inning that put his team ahead for good in the Giants’ 2-1 defeat.
“I know he’s (Goldschmidt) hot right now, he’s pretty much been hot all year,” Bumgarner said. “But there have been times where he’s had some success off of me and vice versa where I feel like I’ve had some success off of him. We went after him, pitched to him, I tried to make pitches. A couple of them were not so great, some of them were, but sometimes when a guy’s hot there’s not much you can do.”
While Arizona’s first baseman used Friday’s contest to build upon his quiet MVP candidacy, the Giants’ first baseman was involved in a scary moment that forced coaches, players and fans to hold their collective breath.
With San Francisco trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Giants’ first baseman Brandon Belt took an Anthony Banda curveball off of his helmet and was forced to exit the game. Belt walked off the field with help from the Giants’ trainer Dave Groeschner and manager Bruce Bochy, and will likely enter concussion protocol. The 29-year-old Belt has a history of dealing with concussions, and with the Giants’ current state, there’s reason to believe San Francisco will be exceedingly careful with one of the key members of the team’s core.
“He’s got concussion symptoms so he’ll come in tomorrow,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’ll evaluate him. We haven’t done anything yet, but he is showing symptoms so that’s where we’re at with him. It was a curveball that caught him flush and he’s been through this before so obviously there’s some concern there.”
Belt was 0-for-2 at the time he was hit by Banda’s offering, and he was replaced on the base paths by Giants’ second baseman Joe Panik, who was thrown out trying to take second base on a deep flyball off the bat of Buster Posey in the very next at-bat.
With Belt out of the lineup, the Giants were unable to take advantage of Banda and the rest of a D’Backs pitching staff that has played a key role in helping Arizona jump out to a 63-46 start this season. Though Banda entered the contest with an 0-1 record and a 6.35 earned run average, he lasted six innings and gave up just three hits in the second start of his career. The lone run Banda gave up came on a bases loaded walk to Giants’ shortstop Brandon Crawford in the bottom of the fourth inning, which plated Kelby Tomlinson, who initially reached base after breaking up Banda’s no-hitter with a push bunt up the first base line.
Even though he took his fifth loss of the season, Friday’s outing was another step in the right direction for Bumgarner, who returned to the Giants’ rotation after a near-three month absence on July 15. In each of his last two starts, Bumgarner has logged seven innings, and the two earned runs he allowed on Friday were two more than he surrendered in seven shutout frames against the Dodgers on Sunday night.
“I’m always trying to get better,” Bumgarner said. “Whether I was hurt or not hurt, before that, I’m always trying to get better. Same thing, same goes for right now but yeah, I felt good the first start back, that’s more or less just getting back into the swing of things. I was jumping in when guys were in midseason form pretty much so I really haven’t, I try to be on top of my game. That was the toughest part about it.”
After scoring 10 runs on Tuesday night and 11 runs on Thursday against the A’s, the Giants were frustrated by a rookie pitcher for the second time this week. In between a pair of strong offensive outbursts in the middle of the week, A’s right-hander Daniel Gossett gave up just one run over seven innings of work on Wednesday night at AT&T Park. Though Banda didn’t match Gossett’s inning count, he was just as sharp against a Giants’ lineup that appeared out of sync for much of the night.
Of course, Banda benefitted from the play of Goldschmidt, who was finally retired on his fourth trip up to the plate on Friday on a low lineout to right field. With three hits on Friday, Goldschmidt is now hitting .317 over 192 at-bats in his career at AT&T Park.
