Madison Bumgarner has pitched pretty well in 2011. His record doesn’t reflect it. He was on tonight and was rewarded with a win. James McDonald was solid, but the offense provided zilch. The winning streak was halted at one.
San Francisco scored their runs quickly and with the aid of the extra base hit. In the fourth, Jeff Keppinger collected the first hit for the Giants. It was a double. He later scored on a double from Aubrey Huff. Charlie Stewart cracked a solo jack in the fifth and Huff did likewise in the sixth.
Jason Grilli gave up singles to Keppinger and Huff in the eighth to put runners on the corners with one out. He was pulled and Joe Beimel allowed one run on a ground ball out from Nate Schierholtz. Cody Ross’ blooper fell in and scored Schierholtz all the way from first. Ross moved to second on the throw home and then moved to third on an error from Ryan Doumit. Orlando Cabrera singled him home to make it 6-0 Giants.
The Pirates again failed to come up with a big hit. Three of the Pirates five hits were doubles. All were struck with no one on base. The other two hits – both singles – came in the second and amounted to nothing but men left on base. The Pirates left the bases loaded in the ninth, courtesy of a walk and an error and another walk.
McDonald gave up just four hits in six innings. Unfortunately, each of those went for extra bases. He gave up all three Giant runs and walked three. He struck out four. Bumgarner tossed seven scoreless innings. He gave up four hits and one walk while striking out ten.
The Good
No complaints about McDonald. He kept the team in the game.
Ryan Ludwick made a sliding catch in the bottom of the third that resulted in Bumgarner being doubled off of first.
The Bad
Double digit whiffs, single digit knocks and no tallies.
The Rest
Bumgarner lost his only other career start against the Pirates. This was McDonald’s tenth appearance and third start against San Francisco. He game into this game with a 1-1 mark.
Stewart made his Major League debut in 2006 and collected 157 plate appearances over parts of the last several seasons. His homer was the first of his Big League career.
This was the tenth time the Pirates were blanked in 2011 and the 40th time they were held to two runs or fewer.
