Bumgarner sees bid for perfect game lost in eighth inning against Padres

One day after Colby Lewis took a perfect game into the eighth inning for the Texas Rangers only to see it wrecked by Oakland, San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner did the same Saturday night against San Diego.

And an unlikely wrecking ball came through for the Padres.

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Melvin Upton Jr. had been 0-for-10 against Bumgarner with six strike outs when he got the call to pinch hit in the eighth inning. Yet, Upton calmly stroked a single to center field for the only hit and baserunner of the night against Bumgarner, who settled for his 18th win of the season, 8-0.

There must be something about this year’s San Diego roster that gives Bumgarner confidence. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Padres on May 4 only to be denied when Justin Upton earned one of two hits Bumgarner gave up that night.

Justin Upton went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in Saturday’s game.

While the perfect game obviously would have been the more notable achievement, had Bumgarner finished with the no-hitter, it would have been the sixth thrown by the Giants pitcher since 2009.There have been 17 no-hitters thrown by Giants pitchers through the years but only one perfect game. That came courtesy of Matt Cain against Houston on June 13, 2012.

With all the pitching success in San Francisco in recent years, it’s almost unbelieveable that Bumgarner could become the franchise’s first 20-game winner since Bill Swift and John Burkett did so in 1993.

Bumgarner has four more starts this season to attempt to earn the two necessary wins to get there.

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If he has anything approaching the stuff he put on display Saturday night, he should have no problem getting to 20 wins. He threw 111 pitches against the Padres and registered nine strike outs. It was the third time in his career he has pitched a one-hitter

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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo