Bumgarner Unravels, Giants Fall to Phillies

If you had forgotten, there's a good reason why games are not decided on paper. 

Facing one of the worst teams in baseball on a night when their ace opened up with four hitless innings, the red-hot Giants lost. Madison Bumgarner was sharp early but fell apart in the seventh, allowing three runs that would be the difference in a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia. 

Bumgarner worked around a walk in the first and error in the second. Through three innings he had four strikeouts, all looking. Peter Bourjos led off the fourth and swung over the top of a cutter. Two soft grounders got Bumgarner through four hitless innings on 55 pitches, but Maikel Franco was having none of it. He led off the fifth by pulling a double a couple feet inside the left field line. 

The Giants had a 2-0 lead at the time, but the shutout and then the lead would disappear in the seventh. Former Giants prospect Tommy Joseph hit a leadoff double and scored two batters later when Blanco bounced a single up the middle, just past Bumgarner’s glove. Cameron Rupp blasted a 3-2 fastball into the net in center, ending Bumgarner’s night and putting the Phillies up a run.

Joe Panik led off the eighth with a single and took second on a wild pitch, but he wouldn’t score. With two outs, Brandon Crawford hit a liner to right and Panik took off for home. When St. Francis (Mountain View) alum Tyler Goeddel made a diving catch, Panik was doubled off. 

Starting pitching report: Bumgarner was a few outs away from passing Jake Arrieta and getting into second on the MLB ERA chart, but he ended up with three earned on his line in 6 1/3 innings. He had not allowed three earned runs since April 15, a span of 12 starts. The ERA, by the way, is still microscopic: 1.99. 

Bullpen report: On a night when Bruce Bochy wanted to rest Santiago Casilla and Cory Gearrin, George Kontos got five easy outs after replacing Bumgarner.

At the plate: Jeremy Hellickson had no intention of going on Bumgarner’s highlight reel on a night when the Giants handed out bobbleheads of their ace swinging a bat. Hellickson worked carefully in the second, walking Bumgarner with two on. The walk was Bumgarner’s fifth, tying a career-high.

In the field: Goeddel’s catch was the play of the night. The 23-year-old was born in Hillsborough and taken 41st overall in 2011 out of St. Francis.

Attendance: The Giants announced a crowd of 41,928 human beings who inexplicably booed when the umpire awarded time on a pitch in the eighth. Buster Posey had asked for it.

Up next: Johnny Cueto faces young Aaron Nola.

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