Richards pitched six effective innings to lead the Miami Marlins to a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.”It’s great, it’s good to get that one out of the way,” Richards said. ”It’s been too long so it’s good to get it done.”Richards (1-3) allowed two hits in his seventh major league start. The 25-year-old right-hander struck out two and walked three.”He’s been a good story, he’s thrown the ball well,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. ”Obviously Pitcher of the Year last year in the minor leagues,
really good reports on his makeup and how he works, competes, and pays attention
so it’s good to see guys like that have success.”Richards walked the first two batters of the game before settling in.”I got a little too excited for the game, a little amped up and lost mechanics,” Richards said. ”I was able to settle down and keep going.”Brandon Crawford’s groundout in the first inning drove in the only run for the Giants Jeff Driskel Jersey , who had just three hits.”Three hits, that’s not going to work,” manager Bruce Bochy said. ”We had a hard time getting guys on base and just getting something going. That’s the
ballgame.”Kyle Barraclough pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in six chances. He has not allowed a run over his last 14 games and a career-best 13 2/3
innings.JT Riddle had a two-run double for Miami, and Starlin Castro had two hits and knocked in a run.”Just enough,” Mattingly said.San Francisco right-hander Chris Stratton (7-4) worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning, but ran into trouble in the third when he again loaded
the bases. This time, Castro singled in Derek Dietrich and Riddle followed with
a two-run double to right field.”I let it get away from me there,” Stratton said. ”I thought I made some really good pitches. Give them credit.”Stratton then retired his final 13 batters. He allowed four hits in seven innings.RIDDLE’S BIG HITRiddle’s two-run double gave him his first multi-RBI game of the season and eighth of his career.”(Stratton) left me a fastball over the middle of the plate after I had swung through two,” Riddle said. ”I was a little late on those so I was thinking he
might come back with another one, he did T.J. Green Jersey , left it over the middle, and I put a pretty good swing on it.”TRAINER’S ROOMGiants: 1B Brandon Belt (appendix) is expected to join the team in Los Angeles later this week after making progress from emergency surgery on June 2.
”He soft-tossed in Arizona, threw, did quite a bit of baseball activities,”
Bochy said. ”Tomorrow he’ll take regular batting practice so that’s the big
step. If he feels fine doing that, then we’re getting close on him.”UP NEXTGiants: LHP Andrew Suarez (2-4, 5.06 ERA) will start the third game of the series on Wednesday in his hometown for the first time in front of a number of
family members and friends.Marlins: LHP Caleb Smith (5-6, 3.70) is 5-4 with a 2.70 ERA over his last nine starts.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, 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 Troy Hill Jersey ,” 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, one just starting his career and getting his feet on the ground Jim McMahon Jersey , and Bumgarner, obviously we know what he’s done in his career,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. ”Really proud of Kyle.”TRAINER’S ROOMRockies: 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 OFFCrawford 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.MILESTONEBumgarner 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 NEXTJon 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.— Alize Johnson Jersey
