The only thing that would have made Brandon Crawford feel better about his game-ending homer was if it had come early enough to reward
Madison Bumgarner with a win.
Crawford homered with one out in the bottom of the ninth after Bumgarner threw seven scoreless innings
Authentic Luke Falk Jersey , giving the San Francisco Giants their fourth straight victory, 1-0 over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
”It would have been nice to get him a win,” Crawford said. ”He pitched well enough that he should have gotten one. … He looked like vintage Bum out there.
He had everything working. His slider has been a lot sharper his last couple of
outings, his curveball is looking a lot better and he’s locating stuff.”
Colorado starter Kyle Freeland matched Bumgarner with seven spotless innings of his own, setting the stage for Crawford’s dramatic shot.
Left-hander Harrison Musgrave (0-3) entered in the ninth to face the left-handed-hitting Crawford. The move backfired when Crawford launched a high
drive that cleared the wall in right field for his third career walk-off homer,
sending the Rockies to their fourth consecutive loss.
”It just kind of kept to the middle,” Musgrave said. ”Good hitters hit it out of the park and that’s what happened. Just didn’t execute a pitch and you get
punished up here for stuff like that.”
Crawford was mobbed by teammates at home plate as the Giants improved to 42-39 at the halfway point of the season. That’s 12 games ahead of their pace
from a year ago despite playing the first two months without an injured
Bumgarner.
”You always want more,” Bumgarner said. ”But the spot we’re in now is not a bad place to be.”
Reyes Moronta (4-1) got two outs for the win.
Bumgarner retired the first 14 batters he faced before Carlos Gonzalez became the first Colorado hitter to reach, on a broken-bat double that landed just
inside the left-field line.
Bumgarner walked the next two batters to load the bases before escaping the jam by striking out Freeland. The 2014 World Series MVP allowed just two hits
with eight strikeouts in his second consecutive scoreless start. He pitched
eight shutout innings to beat San Diego for his first win of the season last
Thursday.
Freeland was just as stingy, permitting only four hits and pitching around a pair of errors by first baseman Ian Desmond. Freeland got Pablo Sandoval to
ground out with runners on first and third to end the fourth, and retired
Crawford on a popup with runners at the corners to end the sixth.
Freeland has 11 quality starts in 16 appearances this season.
”What a great matchup between two lefties
Bradley Zimmer Cleveland Indians Jersey , one just starting his career and getting his feet on the ground, and Bumgarner, obviously we know what he’s done
in his career,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. ”Really proud of Kyle.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: RHP Scott Oberg and LHP Mike Dunn were activated from the disabled list. RHPs Jeff Hoffman and Brooks Pounders were optioned to Triple-A
Albuquerque.
Giants: RHP Jeff Samardzija (right shoulder) will likely need at least one more rehab start after lasting just four innings for Triple-A Sacramento on
Tuesday. Samardzija’s outing was cut short because he threw 40 pitches in the
first.
WALK IT OFF
Crawford gave the Giants their sixth walk-off homer in a 1-0 win since moving to San Francisco in 1958. The previous one was hit by Steve Decker against
Houston in 1991. The others were hit by Bobby Murcer vs. Philadelphia in 1976,
Tom Haller in 1967 vs. Pittsburgh, and Willie Mays in 1966 against Houston and
1963 off Warren Spahn in a 16-inning game that Juan Marichal completed against
the Milwaukee Braves.
MILESTONE
Bumgarner struck out DJ LeMahieu to open the game, giving him 1,500 Ks for his career in 1,534 1/3 innings. He’s the ninth-fastest lefty to reach the mark
in the live ball era starting in 1920.
UP NEXT
Jon Gray (7-7) looks to beat the Giants for the first time in six career starts in the series finale. Gray is coming off his third career 12-strikeout
game, the most in Colorado history. Chris Stratton (8-5) pitches for San
Francisco.
—
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Cincinnati Reds have the worst record in the National League at 24-43 Cardinals Game Jerseys , but they still have a better record than the Kansas City Royals.
The Reds beat the Royals 5-1 in 10 innings Tuesday. The Royals have dropped eight of their past nine and are 22-45 overall. Only the Baltimore Orioles
(19-47) have a worst record.
The Royals are 23 games below .500 for the first time since Sept. 13, 2011, when they were 63-86.
The Reds will go for a sweep of the two-game mini-series in Kansas City on Wednesday night. The Reds’ victory Tuesday was their first over the Royals since
June 12, 2010.
Right-hander Tyler Mahle of the Reds and Jason Hammel of the Royals are scheduled starting pitchers for the series finale.
Mahle (4-6, 4.33 ERA) is 1-0 in two June starts, allowing 11 hits and two earned runs in 10 innings, while striking out 11 and walking four.
This will be Mahle’s first time facing the Royals, but not his first time on the Kaufman Stadium mound. He threw a mound session before the 2013 draft when
the Reds chose him in the seventh round.
“They had a high school workout,” Mahle said. “Pitchers just threw a bullpen off the game mound; that was it. All the scouts were here.”
He said never pitching against the Royals does not change his preparation.
“It’s the same between every start,” Mahle said. “I prepare to go out there and hit my spots and compete. It’s a new team, and I’ve never seen them play
before Authentic Lukas Dostal Jersey , so I’m going to do my homework and kind of make a game plan out of it.”
He said he pitches not to the Royals’ weaknesses, but his strengths.
“You always play to your own strength,” he said. “We’re going to find out what their weaknesses are and kind of find something there in the middle. I
throw a lot of fastballs, but if there’s a guy who likes a lot of fastballs, it
kind of collides there.
“But, at the same time, if you hit spots, good things are going to happen. Obviously if you throw it down the middle, he’s going to hit it, but if you hit
a corner, or something like that Youth Avonte Maddox Jersey , always if you make your pitch, good things are going to happen.”
Good things happened to the Reds in the Tuesday victory. They trailed 1-0 entering the ninth, but Tucker Barnhart led off the inning with a blast off
Kelvin Herrera that landed in the Royals’ bullpen.
“That is against one of the best closers in the game, so that was huge,” Reds manager Jim Riggleman said. “Both pitchers are pitching so good it’s probably
going to be a home-run type game. Nobody was putting a rally together. They got
one and we got one, and our bullpen really did a great job.”
Hammel (2-6, 5.12 ERA) is 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA in his last four starts after a 13-start winless streak in which he went 0-8 with a 7.28 ERA. He has issued two
or fewer walks in 10 of his 13 starts this season.
Hammel is 0-3 with a 4.70 ERA in five home starts this year and is winless in his last seven Kauffman Stadium starts dating to Aug. 20.
He is 4-1 with a 3.42 ERA in 12 career outings (11 starts) against the Reds. He has won his last four starts against Cincinnati with a 0.75 ERA, but has not
faced the Reds since 2016.
.
