There’s no player on the planet enjoying the hot streak that Giancarlo Stanton is riding.
And on Tuesday evening, not even Giants’ ace Madison Bumgarner could put Stanton on ice.
But even though Stanton’s bat played a significant role in Tuesday’s game, it was his arm that became a deciding factor.
With the game tied 4-4 in the top of the seventh, Giants’ pinch hitter Carlos Moncrief challenged Stanton’s arm as Moncrief tried to go from first to third on a Denard Span single. That plan worked, as Moncrief slid in safely and Stanton’s throw sailed into the seats, which gave Moncrief an extra base and the Giants a 5-4 lead in an eventual 9-4 win.
Moncrief wasn’t the only rookie to have a big role at the plate against the Marlins, as 23-year-old first baseman Ryder Jones also had a night to remember. After doubling off the right field wall in the fifth inning, Jones scored on a 360-foot single from Bumgarner that pelted the left field wall on the fly. Then, in the top of the eighth inning, Jones hooked a pitch just inside the right field foul pole for his second career home run, which gave the Giants a 7-4 advantage.
Jones’ home run was the fourth hit at Marlins Park on Tuesday, and unsurprisingly, the most majestic belonged to a certain Marlins’ right fielder.
A day after launching a two-run home run off San Francisco rookie Ty Blach to set the Marlins’ single-season record, Stanton blasted his 44th big fly of the season, a 432-foot rocket that helped Miami lock up the game after a two-run homer from Span put the Giants ahead 2-1.
After notching three consecutive starts in which he logged at least seven innings and surrendered no more than five hits in any outing, Bumgarner was tagged early by a Marlins’ offense that has troubled Giants’ pitchers in all five contests the teams have played in 2017. For the third time since the All-Star break, Bumgarner surrendered multiple home runs in the same game, as Marlins’ catcher A.J. Ellis knocked his second career home run off of Bumgarner out to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend Miami’s lead to 4-2.
Even though Bumgarner has shown no ill-effects from a shoulder injury that kept him out for nearly three months this season, he couldn’t channel the dominance he found in his previous three outings against the Marlins on Tuesday But thanks to a Giants’ offense that has rarely offered its ace quality run support this season, Bumgarner exited the game with an opportunity to pick up his first road victory of the season.
In the top of the seventh inning, Giants’ second baseman Kelby Tomlinson –who started after Joe Panik was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list, led off with a single to right field. With Bumgarner due up, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy tabbed Moncrief as a pinch hitter, and the rookie hit a laser into right for a base hit.
In the ensuing at-bat, Span rolled a single into right that scored Tomlinson to tie the game, and Moncrief took an aggressive turn around second base as Stanton scurried to corral the ball. Even though a good throw may have cut down Moncrief on the base paths, Stanton sailed his attempt into the stands next to the third base dugout, and Moncrief came home to score the go-ahead run.
Later on in the frame, Giants’ right fielder Hunter Pence continued the trend of peppering Stanton, as all four of San Francisco’s hits were sprayed to right field. Pence’s double down the line scored Span, giving the club an important insurance run.
The Giants’ three-run seventh inning outburst gave way to reliever Mark Melancon, who pitched in his second game since returning from the disabled list on Saturday. Despite having to face Dee Gordon, Stanton and Marcell Ozuna, Melancon kept the Marlins off the board and preserved the Giants’ lead as he works his way back toward pitching in more high-leverage situations.
