Madison Bumgarner dominates and has close calls in seventh go his way
ST. LOUIS — Madison Bumgarner has everything going his way right now and the San Francisco Giants couldn’t be happier to have him on their side.
Bumgarner’s pitching alone continued to be dominating in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, leading the Giants to a 3-0 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night at Busch Stadium. After throwing four-hit ball with one walk and seven strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings, Bumgarner established a major league postseason record of 26 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings on the road.
Bumgarner also had good fortune in the seventh on two close calls that could have led to the Cardinals flipping the score, as they’ve done frequently in the late-going, earlier in the playoffs. St. Louis came in having scored 13 runs over four games in the seventh frame.
• Bumgarner showed awareness, agility and physical toughness on a collision at first base with Kolten Wong of the Cardinals, tagging him on the leg before bracing himself and blocking Wong to the side. The Cardinals challenged the call, claiming obstruction, but replay confirmed that Bumgarner was in the right.
“I just knew I had a better shot at tagging him than beating him to the base,” Bumgarner said. “I don’t know what they were reviewing, but I’m glad it worked out in our favor.”
• Bumgarner also got lucky by not having a balk called with Tony Cruz batting that would have scored a runner from third base had the umpires caught it.
“I don’t think I balked,” Bumgarner said. “I was about to deliver the pitch and I thought I may be getting ready to cross Buster [Posey] up and obviously you don’t want to do that. So I stepped off. But it was right before I was getting ready to deliver.
“It was close, no doubt about it. I can see why they may have a problem with it, but in my mind, I don’t think that I balked.”
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said both of the calls were right, though he admitted the alleged balk was strange.
“I know it looked funny there, but it’s a quick step back, and you’re allowed to do that,” Bochy said.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said the collision with Wong “just didn’t look right,” and that video reviewers needed to check to see whether Bumgarner was blocking Wong’s path without having the ball.
Umpire Bill Welke appeared to get the call right in real time. The alleged balk, on the other hand…
Yadier Molina — the runner at third — pointed immediately, as did Cruz at the plate. Matheny and much of the Cardinals’ dugout did as well. But none of the umpires saw what they saw. If you watch this Vine by C.J. Zero closely, you can see Bumgarner move his front leg before he steps off the rubber.
If it’s called, maybe Bumgarner loses concentration and allows the Cardinals back in it. Or maybe not. Bumgarner finished the at-bat by striking out Cruz. There was no magic in the seventh for the Cardinals this time.
“A balk call would help only to the point of putting something on that board, and then that’s a momentum shifter, for sure. So that did hurt,” Matheny said.
“We don’t necessarily put a star by the seventh inning or anything else. We just know that we stay the course and we needed somebody to come up big there and get a big hit for us. And Madison Bumgarner was good today. He kept us from having that big inning.”
Bumgarner’s scoreless streak started in the fifth inning of Game 6 of the 2010 NLCS. The old record belonged to Art Nehf of the New York Giants and had stood since 1924.
That, Bochy said, is more of the essence of Bumgarner’s contribution than any funky-looking plays.
“He executed all night against a tough lineup,” Bochy said. “He’s a guy that you want out there to start things and he gave us all we were asking.”
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
