SAN FRANCISCO–One mistake.
The 2017 version of the San Francisco Giants have come to be defined by the prodigious quantity of their errors, but on Saturday evening against the Arizona Diamondbacks, starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner made just one critical blunder.
It turns out, the magnitude of Bumgarner’s greatest misstep was too much to overcome for a Giants offense that can’t seem to beat anyone these days, especially not Arizona ace Zack Greinke.
In the top of the first inning, Bumgarner grooved a first pitch fastball to Diamondbacks’ slugger Paul Goldschmidt, and Arizona’s first baseman mashed it over the left center field wall to give his club a 2-0 lead. That one mistake was all it took to seal up the game, as the Giants wound up falling –you guessed it– 2-0.
“I don’t think it’s where he wanted it and if it was, he took a good swing at a good pitch, that’s where the pitcher, that’s what he’s trying to do is make a good pitch there,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “Goldschmidt is a really good hitter and he’s having a really good year and I’d like to think you could maybe overcome a two-run homer, but that’s the one pitch that got Bum tonight.”
The home run Goldschmidt hit wasn’t the only mistake Bumgarner and the Giants made on Saturday –in fact, there were probably a few dozen– but a fastball that caught too much of the plate in the game’s very first inning ended up determining the outcome early on.
“It came maybe a little more on the plate, than maybe if you’re going to walk up there and set it in a spot,” Bumgarner said. “It’s a pretty decent pitch, he’s(Goldschmidt) a good hitter.”
It hardly matters that Greinke came into Saturday’s contest with 16 wins and the reputation as Arizona’s staff leader, the Giants have been stifled by aces and journeymen alike this season. Saturday’s loss marked the sixth time this month the Giants have scored two or fewer runs in a loss, and it’s only September 16. While their inability to score against Greinke is something even a strong lineup can commiserate with, in the past seven days, the Giants have also been shut down by struggling White Sox veteran James Shields and inconsistent youngster Carson Fulmer.
Perhaps the most embarrassing stat of Saturday’s loss for the Giants was that after eight innings, Greinke had four total bases at the plate, and the Giants as a team had two.
“The story was Greinke and getting two singles, that was the story of the night,” Bochy said. “Our guy pitched well, we just couldn’t do much off Greinke. He’s got good stuff, he works on the edges, when he’s on he’s hitting those edges all night and it makes it tough for the hitter. But right now we have some guys that aren’t swinging the bats very well.”
The Diamondbacks have now taken five straight games from the Giants, and on Sunday, San Francisco will face right-hander Taijuan Walker, a pitcher who allowed just four hits and one earned run against Bochy’s club in his last matchup. With 12 games left in the regular season, San Francisco must play .500 ball to avoid 100 losses, a fate that looks increasingly likely as the final weeks of the year unfold.
Aside from the mistake Bumgarner made to Goldschmidt, who has now hit five home runs against the Giants this season, the Giants’ left-hander also allowed his opposing pitcher to reach base on a pair of doubles. Greinke’s extra base hits accounted for two of the four Bumgarner allowed on Saturday, as he also gave up a leadoff double to Brandon Drury in the top of the seventh.
Still, everything Bumgarner did beyond the first inning helped give his team a chance to win the game. He struck out six Arizona hitters and stranded five Diamondbacks runners. After Goldschmidt crossed home plate in the first inning, no other Diamondbacks player did under Bumgarner’s watch. He was strong, efficient, and most importantly, he didn’t allow his mistakes to snowball. But he made one, and for Giants pitchers trying to give their lineup a chance to win a game, that’s one too many.
“We want to win, we’ve got way too good a team not to be,” Bumgarner said. “Things just haven’t worked out for us this year. It’s frustrating for everybody. They’ve (Giants fans) done a great job. They definitely make it fun and they are still, the sellout streak is gone, but the stadium is still pretty full. It’s an awesome place to come and play.”
Bumgarner will tell you he can’t let the Diamondbacks score two runs. But on the flip side of that, every Giants’ hitter will say they can’t perform as poorly as they did and expect to give their starting pitcher a chance to win. Sure, there were bad mistakes, like the eight hitters who struck out against Greinke, and the double play rookie Ryder Jones grounded into, but what can this team realistically expect anymore?
When Bochy wrote the lineup card on Saturday, Bumgarner’s .241 average was the fifth-highest in the Giants’ order, and his .842 OPS ranked second behind only catcher Buster Posey. Pablo Sandoval, who entered the game with two hits in his last 54 at-bats, was the sixth hitter. There’s no other team in baseball that Sandoval would start games for right now, let alone hit sixth. The Giants’ seventh and eighth hitters, meanwhile, Ryder Jones and Mac Williamson, didn’t hit a ball to an outfielder against Greinke.
Not that the top of the order was much better. Joe Panik reached base twice, on a first inning single and a sixth inning walk, but his at-bats accounted for the Giants’ offensive highlights. Jarrett Parker, the No. 3 hitter, and Posey, the cleanup man, were 0-for-6 against Greinke with three strikeouts.
“I thought we played a good ballgame,” Bochy said. “We pitched well, we had some good defensive plays, as you mentioned, Craw, guys did a good job. Greinke’s had a really good year and you’re going to run into a guy like this and you know you have your work cut out and he was on the top of his game and shut us down.”
The Giants’ struggles have become so prolific that Bochy needed to use his closer, Sam Dyson, in the ninth inning on Saturday evening just to get him some work. Dyson has saved just one game this month, and now that the Giants have lost six of their last seven, there’s no telling when they’ll need him again.
