Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
On a day one Bay Area icon left town, another made himself an even more attractive trade candidate, and a team reminded it was still here.
It was a historic day for Madison Bumgarner, another high point of a Giants career that has been storybook. It was a bittersweet day for the Giants, who witnessed just how this season could have gone in a different timeline.
Bumgarner picked up the slack Kevin Durant dropped, brilliant for a second straight start. Buster Posey was brilliant for a second straight start. Kevin Pillar had the game of the year. Will Smith was named an All-Star. Heck, even Evan Longoria contributed an RBI single. The Giants were victors, 10-4 over the Diamondbacks on Sunday at Oracle Park in front of 31,778, all of it looking right except the 36-47 record.
There wasn’t a weak spot in the lineup, each non-Bumgarner starter reaching base at least one. And there wasn’t a weak spot on the mound, where Bumgarner used both sides of the plate and, without the velocity he once had, again could tap into the dominance he once had.
In seven innings, the 29-year-old surrendered just four base-runners, a Nick Ahmed fifth-inning triple being the only extra-base hit. Ahmed scored, but Bumgarner was stingy, striking out nine to bring his total to 1,704, which ties Tim Lincecum for second on the Giants’ all-time list. The only thing that could stop Bumgarner, who’s now struck out 20 in his past 13 innings, was the Giants offense.
He was at 96 pitches when Bruce Bochy lifted him for Pablo Sandoval amid a torrid seventh inning. The Giants broke it open, scoring a season-high-tying six runs in the frame as six consecutive hitters reached base without recording an out. The seventh, Joe Panik, hit a sacrifice fly. The eighth, Sandoval, hit an RBI single, and the rout was on.
This was the starting pitching Farhan Zaidi had hoped for, a day after Drew Pomeranz was terrific, which followed solid outings from Tyler Beede and Shaun Anderson. The bullpen was in mop-up mode, but did officially send Smith to Cleveland on July 9. The offense was awoken, early-April acquisition Pillar going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and a career-high five RBIs. Posey, two days after going 3-for-4, went 3-for-3 with a run and a walk, his average rising from .230 on Thursday to .251 on Sunday.
In all, the Giants had 13 hits, scoring two runs apiece in the second and third innings against starter Robbie Ray before clobbering seventh-inning reliever Matt Andriese. Pillar hit the only home run for the Giants, San Francisco using a ground attack that got relentless. It allowed the Giants to salvage a split of the four-game series, with a trip to San Diego on tap for Monday.
The game had everything for the Giants. Except, in this season, a precedent.