© Joe Camporeale | USA Today
Thursday night marked the start of a crucial four-game series between the Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks, which opened with an 8-1 win by the Giants. They entered the game five games back of the Diamondback and the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West Division.
It began as a matchup between two of the National League’s best pitchers in Madison Bumgarner and Zach Greinke, who exchanged hits against one another. And for seven innings, the game was tight. Heading into the eighth inning, the Giants led 3-1.
Then, like the storm outside of Chase Field in Phoenix, the Giants bats blew the Diamondbacks away in the eighth.
First, Buster Posey hit a leadoff double. After Evan Longoria grounded out and Brandon Crawford was intentionally walked, Gorkys Hernandez loaded the bases with a single. Then Alen Hanson, batting for Chase d’Arnaud, who had replaced Joe Panik, singled to right field, driving in a run while keeping the bases loaded for Austin Slater.
Slater had already doubled and walked in the game. With a 2-2 count, he took a low sinker to center field, sending Crawford, Hernandez and the rapid Hanson all in to score, givng the Giants a 7-1 lead. Slater advanced on a throwing error, allowing him to score from second on the following single by Steven Duggar. Posey batted around as the last batter of the inning, grounding out to second.
By the end of the eighth, Giants led 8-1 after a six-hit, five-run inning. If the Giants are serious about making the playoffs, they will need to continue to have innings like that.
The team initially got on the board with a first-inning home run from Evan Longoria. The ball nearly fell foul, as it wrapped its way fair around the left-field foul pole to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.
The result did not reflect the struggles that Bumgarner endured, after struggling through five high-stress innings. He talked to both the home plate umpire after a questionable call and the first-base umpire after a balk. But the most notable person Bumgarner talked to was Greinke.
Bumgarner allowed a single to Greinke in the second inning and stared him down after striking out in his first at-bat against Greinke. He looked to be upset at Greinke for not throwing him any fastballs.
Well, in Bumgarner’s second at-bat, he got that fastball. After Austin Slater doubled earlier in the inning and moved to third on a grounder, Bumgarner stepped to the plate with a 1-1 game and two outs. On the third pitch of the at-bat, Bumgarner ripped the ball into left field for his second RBI of the year, giving the Giants a 2-1 lead.
While he’d only allowed a run and drove one in himself, Bumgarner had thrown 81 pitches through four innings. He finished the game with four hits, three walks and five strikeouts in five innings of one-run work.
Once Greinke left the game, the Giants received a gift from reliever Jake Diekman, who struggled with his command in the seventh inning. After a strikeout to open the inning, he allowed back-to-back walks, a wild pitch and a passed ball. Hunter Pence stepped in after Diekman was relieved, hitting a sacrifice fly to center field to score Slater from third.
The win moves the Giants to 56-54, 4.5 games back in both the NL West and Wild Card races.