For Giants fans, last night’s extra-inning walk off-loss, which resulted in a sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers, left it hard to be optimistic about anything baseball-related in the Bay.
It was like a slap in the face, as Dodgers prospect Kyle Farmer smacked a game-winning single to right in his first ever major league at-bat shortly after the Giants had reclaimed the lead in the top half of the inning. But so it goes for 2017 – LA notched their ninth walk-off of the season and the Giants tacked up another wearisome defeat in the loss column.
But for everything that went wrong Sunday night, a major player made a major impact, at least in the eyes of broadcaster Mike Krukow.
Madison Bumgarner, bumped up to start in place of Matt Cain, flashed every sign of his pre-accident form, scattering five hits and striking out seven over seven shutout innings. He silenced the bats of one of baseball’s best offenses with an aura familiar to his dominance over the last years.
“I don’t think he could’ve thrown better,” Krukow said. “He was spectacular last night and what was great about what he did last night is he just brought that mojo back out there.”
Bumgarner picked up his first win in his last start on July 25 against Pittsburgh. He threw five innings and gave up just one earned run, but there were still questions surrounding the lasting effects of his serious shoulder injury. Judging by Sunday’s performance, his arm is just fine.
“We all felt it,” Krukow added. “We were still ‘does he have his right stuff, is he the same guy?’ After what you watched yesterday, you have to say he’s the same guy. I’m not worried about the injury anymore. He was nasty. He was nasty on the inside part of the plate, his cutter and his slider were just devastating. He was throwing changeups, which really is a new look for him.”
“I think he planted a flag last night at Dodger stadium on their mound, basically saying I’m still the guy and we’re still the team. I thought it was very significant. They didn’t win that game but I think he had a lot to say with his effort.”
The Giants will head right back into rivalry mode as the Bay Bridge Series kicks off Monday in Oakland. The four-game series will feature two games at the Coliseum before the Giants turn around and host the Athletics for two games at AT&T.
Listen to the full podcast below. For Krukow’s comments on MadBum, skip to the 12:03 mark.