That's Three

The San Francisco Giants and the Colorado Rockies played 18 innings of baseball last night.  In that game, the Giants used every available reliever (and even Derek Rodriguez got used as a pinch hitter).  So the one thing the Giants wanted was to have today's afternoon starter give them a good outing.  Who better than Madison Bumgarner, 50% stubborn ox anyway?

Madison did what he was asked, and did it well.  98 pitches got him through 7 innings.  He gave up 1 run in the 6th and 1 in the 7th after the Giants already had 3 on the board.  He gave up 6 hits,  struck out 7 and walked no one.  Although the Giants used every reliever last night, an number were only used for 1 inning; Moronta, Dyson, Watson, and Smith.  Madison came out to pitch the 7th, but the first batter, Chris Ianetta, landed on second base with what probably should have been cut off to hold him to a single.  Reyes Moronta was brought in, and did a fine job of striking out the next three batters.  Sam Dyson made it an uneventful 9th for the Giants third win in a row, and third over Colorado.  Given the way Colorado chewed up and spit out the Giants last year, I am surprised.  They, like the Giants, have had a lot of trouble putting runs on the board this year.  For example, Nolan Arenado has yet to hit a home run.  I expect that to change, but you need to jump on teams when they are down and the Giants haven't done nearly enough of that in the last couple years.

And speaking of runs, the Giants, after doing just enough the last couple nights, added on in the bottom of the 8th (sac flies from and Parra and Duggar) to make the final score Rockies 2, Giants 5.  Buster Posey picked up his first rbi of the season with a 3rd inning double, and Pillar got the other 2 rbi with a sac fly in the 3rd and a solo home run in the 5th.

But really:  pitching.  The Giants have held the Rockies to 4 runs in 36 innings.  The Giants are right up there with the best in the NL in pitching stats, along with Pittsburgh, and we'll see them on the road trip that starts after tomorrow's game.  But first, tomorrow.  Everyone's tired, but with a decent start out of Dutch, and with Watson and Smith having today off, anything (like a sweep) is possible. 

Mad About Madbum, but Diggin' Duggar and Ravin' about Reyes

This was, perhaps, the best Giants game of the year.

The San Francisco Giants beat the Oakland Athletics by a score of 7 - 1.

The Giants pitching was superb.
Madison Bumgarner was the starter.  He got his 3rd win, which, perhaps, is a good illustration of how odd the designation of a W to a pitcher can be.  Madison threw 6 fantastic innings, he gave up a home run to Oakland left fielder Chad Pinder in the 5th inning, with no one on base.  That was Oakland's first run, and it tied the score at 1 each.  The Giants had scored on a balk the previous inning.  Apparently, the Oakland starter, Edwin Jackson, slipped or caught his cleats or something as he was in his motion.  It brought Steve Duggar in from 3rd base.  In those 6, Madison gave up 2 hits, 1 walk, struck out 5 and threw 84 pitches.  Madison also pitched in the 7th inning, and did not fare so well.  He threw 18 more pitches, gave up a single followed by 2 walks and was pulled for Reyes Moronta.  Reyes induced a strike out, a line out to the Panda, and a ground ball to Brandon Crawford.  If you could award a "win" based on sheer grit and savvy, Reyes gets the credit.  Innings 8 and 9 were handled perfunctorily by Sam Dyson (a 4-pitch 8th).

After that, it fell apart for the A's.  A series of relievers in the 7th culminating with Santiago Casilla (who also pitched the 8th) gave the Giants 5 runs for the final score.

The Giants hitting was timely.
Steve Duggar scored 3 times, walked, hit 2 doubles and picked up 2 rbi.  In the 7th, with the bases loaded by way of two singles and a walk, Duggar slammed a double to right to score 2.  Belt was hit on the hand (but stayed in the game), McCutheon hit a sac fly to score d'Arnaud and send Duggar to 3rd, where a wild Santiago Casilla pitch brought him in.  A Buster Posey double scored Belt.  Buster had 2 rbi, both coming with 2 outs.  The Giants had to scrap for opportunity early in the game, but took advantage of them when they came.

The Oakland A's had just beaten the world champion and AL West division-leading Houston Astros in 3 games out of 4.  Oakland, even with tonight's loss, would be in first place in the NL West.  Mark's hope is still alive.