NEW YORK — Bruce Bochy never gave much thought to letting Madison Bumgarner hit for himself Friday night at Yankee Stadium, noting that on a humid 92-degree night, the ace needed to conserve all his energy for the mound.
The plan worked in one respect. Bumgarner did his job, but the position players failed over and over again with runners in scoring position and played sloppy defense, falling 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. They are winless in six games since the All-Star break.
Through four innings, Giants hitters gave Bochy all kinds of different ways to feel pain. Masahiro Tanaka got through the first on just five pitches, and after the first two hitters of the second reached base, he managed to keep the Giants off the board.
The first two hitters in the third reached, too, and Angel Pagan hit a liner to right that looked like it would score a run. But Carlos Beltran threw a seed to the plate and Gregor Blanco was tagged out after it was ruled he never touched the plate on a bang-bang play. Bochy challenged, but the call on the field was confirmed. Blanco appeared to get one finger over the plate, but it was impossible to tell if he actually touched it.
In the fourth — you guessed it — the Giants threatened again but didn’t score. They loaded the bases with one out, but Ramiro Peña popped up and Blanco struck out.
Bumgarner labored through his first two innings, throwing 47 pitches and giving up a pair of runs. But he limited the damage and somehow found his way through seven.
The Giants never scored off Tanaka, which let the Yankees turn the ball over to the best late-game trio in the game. The Giants immediately scratched a run across against Dellin Betances, scoring on a Jarrett Parker walk, Denard Span double and a wild pitch.
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Andrew Miller, a lefty the Giants would love to have by the deadline, came in and gave up singles to Trevor Brown and Grant Green. With two outs and two strikes, pinch-hitter Mac Williamson smoked a fastball off the left field wall, tying the game.
Chase Headley singled off Josh Osich to open the bottom of the inning and went to second on a walk. Austin Romine hit a slow roller to short and Brandon Crawford touched the bag, spun and threw a high rocket to first. Brandon Belt jumped but the ball bounced out of his glove and trickled away, with Headley sprinting home just ahead of Belt’s throw.
Blanco hit a leadoff double off Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, but the lefty sat at 104 mph while locking down the save.
Starting pitching report: Bumgarner threw 115 pitches on the hottest night of the year for the Giants, and he looked like he could go another inning. He gave up seven hits, walked three and struck out six.
Bullpen report: Sergio Romo got a couple of left-handers to fly out. He continues to look like a big part of the solution.
At the plate: Williamson’s work off the bench on this trip might keep him on the roster when Hunter Pence returns. He had a pinch-hit homer in San Diego last weekend.
In the field: The Giants made four errors, three by Crawford, which is a career-high. They’ve got 10 in the last six games, which is very unlike them but fits right in with the rest of this road trip.
Attendance: The Giants announced a crowd of 45,304 human beings who spent the night fanning themselves with whatever they could find.
Up next: Jeff Samardzija (9-5, 4.05) faces right-hander Ivan Nova (7-5, 4.92).
