Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
It has gotten less likely nearly every game this month that Giants fans will see the playoffs this season.
But they did see another one of those Madison Bumgarner moments.
Through 5 1/3 innings, the lefty dazzled, navigating through the powerful Phillies lineup with ease, making August feel like October with a walk to Rhys Hoskins his only blemish.
Cesar Hernandez’s pinch-hit, solid single to center in the sixth interrupted history. But not an important Giants victory that ended a four-game skid.
Bumgarner, still wearing orange and black a week after the trade deadline, gave the rest of baseball (via YouTube) a peek at what it’s missing as the Giants beat the Phillies, 5-0, in front of 37,667 at Oracle Park on Thursday. The Giants gained ground on the Phillies and sit three games back of the idle Brewers in the chase for the second wild card.
Bumgarner was masterful when he needed to be. The last week of Giants games has seen their rotation throw 29 2/3 innings – averaging just over four innings per game – with 30 runs allowed (9.10 ERA). The bullpen has been taxed, and it appreciated seeing Bumgarner go seven innings allowing just the one hit and one walk while striking out three. Bruce Bochy inserted Trevor Gott for the eighth after 85 pitches, and Bumgarner surely was the most furious pitcher in history after tossing a one-hitter.
Gott was good, as was Will Smith in the ninth, and for the first time since Saturday, the offense did its job, scoring one more run than it plated the entire Washington series.
Mike Yastrzemski was the biggest contributor, turning around a 93-mph Nick Pivetta fastball and crushing it 403 feet to right to provide the game’s final margin in the seventh. It was his 11th homer of the year, capping a night he went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. The old (Bumgarner) and new (Yastrzemski) combined to carry the Giants when needed; San Francisco is now 2-6 this month.
Bumgarner’s arm was great, his bat was great and even his glove made a quick-twitch stop on a Bryce Harper comebacker in the seventh. A batter later, Brandon Crawford robbed Jean Segura of a hit with a diving catch. Philadelphia made a lot of contact, but the Giants’ defense was always there.
As was its offense. After being stymied by the likes of Joe Ross, Anibal Sanchez and Erick Fedde, the Giants jumped on Phillies ace Aaron Nola.
Crawford slapped the first pitch of the bottom of the third for a single to right. Bumgarner followed with an eight-pitch at-bat that ended with a rare single, and Brandon Belt added a third hit to drive in Crawford for the game’s first run. Yastrzemski followed with a lined double off the left-field wall that drove in two, though he was caught in a pickle between second and third.
Bumgarner even willed pitches where he wanted them to go while at the plate. He got on base each of his three plate appearances with a single and two walks. In the sixth, he watched a Pivetta wild pitch go by him that scored Kevin Pillar from third.
He could do everything. His next task is teaching the rest of a young rotation to follow his lead.
