© Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES – Tonight was a whole lot of Madison Bumgarner. Depending on which inning it was, that meant something either very good or very bad for the Giants. The result was a 6-5 Giants loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Here are three thoughts from the Giants’ loss:
Bumgarner, Bumgarner everywhere
Bumgarner was involved in the meat of tonight’s game. He began with a pair of scoreless innings before embarking on a third inning that defined tonight’s game. He fielded a ball off the bat of Russell Martin, and should’ve had the first out of the inning. Instead, the ball short-hopped Brandon Belt and left Martin on base to open the inning.
Then, in particularly befuddling fashion, Bumgarner walked Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu with four-straight balls. He was evidently displeased with the call, and spoke to home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez for about a minute following the conclusion of the inning.
With two men on, both of whom likely would not have been without mistakes from Bumgarner, Kike Hernandez singled home Martin to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead and two men on first and second with no outs. A pair of fly balls later and the inning should have been over. Take away either one of Bumgarner’s mishaps – the throwing error or four-pitch walk of the pitcher – and the inning would have been over with just the one run.
Instead, disaster followed. A.J. Pollock singled to load the bases, and Cody Bellinger, who entered tonight’s game batting .458 with four home runs, Bellinger had never hit a grand slam… until tonight. Bellinger teed off on Bumgarner’s 86.3 mph cutter, which came in high and right over the middle of the plate. The homer secured a 5-0 Dodgers lead, which would not be dented until the sixth inning.
It was only fitting that Bumgarner would be the one to put a number on the board. After Gerardo Parra singled, Bumgarner rocketed a two-run home run to left field. Two years ago today, Bumgarner hit a pair of home runs on opening day. Oddly enough, Zach Greinke of the Arizona Diamondbacks accomplished the same feat today.
The homer punctuated a trifecta of near-perfect innings from Bumgarner, in which he allowed one hit and struck out four to finish with a zero earned run loss:
https://twitter.com/KO_Crowley/status/1113291882119852032
Pillar arrives late, makes debut
Before Bumgarner took over tonight’s game, the story of the day was Kevin Pillar. He was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays for Alen Hanson, Derek Law and Juan de Paula.
Pillar’s flight arrived from Toronto at Los Angeles International airport at approximately 6:40 p.m., a half hour before tonight’s contest kicked off. He made it to the game by the sixth inning, and when he did come up, he looked solid at the plate, albeit without anything to show for it. Still, a five-foul ball at-bat after a five-plus-hour flight and a life-changing trade away from the team he’d been with since he made his major league debut is nothing to scoff at.
Pillar's first at-bat looked better in person, but here's the transcript: pic.twitter.com/Q1xFozbXE7
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) April 3, 2019
For some added fun, here is Pillar through a pair of binoculars:
Kevin Pillar as a #SFGiants player, as seen through binoculars pic.twitter.com/18wOC1i2wl
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) April 3, 2019
Late rally foiled
The Giants entered the ninth inning down 6-2, but nearly tied it up. A leadoff double from Evan Longoria preceded a walk from Buster Posey, and an error, charged to Kenley Jansen, but which could have easily been given to Max Muncy, loaded the bases.
Jansen then walked in a run, and Joe Panik struck out looking. Gerardo Parra then ripped a two-run single, cutting the deficit to 6-5 and leaving a pinch-hitting Pablo Sandoval up to bat, needing just a deep fly ball to tie the game. Instead, Sandoval grounded into the deep left side hole and Corey Seager turned a double play with Kike Hernandez to end the game.
