Tuesday night was ... well, something else. Man. The Giants rolled the Astros (and signed their top draft pick!) thanks to Madison Bumgarner's 12 strikeouts.
But it was on the home-run front where things were the weirdest. First off, Bumgarner hit his first career home run. It was -- no lie -- a towering shot. Dude can swing the lumber.
Bumgarner got the cold shoulder when he got back to the dugout, but obviously everyone was paying attention.
Especially paying attention was one Brandon Belt who -- at that point in time -- was homerless on the season. (Note: this is not good for a first baseman.) Belt, a left-handed batter, later stepped up to the plate, against a left-handed pitcher, and also hit his first home run of the season. (Watch that tater here.)
And he did it, he said, because he was inspired by Bumgarner.
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“It inspired me a lot,” Belt said via CSNBayArea.com. “Kind of made me mad a little bit that he beat me to it, but it was good to see him go out there and make solid contact and finally get that one out of the way.”
Hopefully this is the sort of thing that gets Belt rolling; there's nothing worse than the old "zero home run" monkey to wreck a season, and Belt made it clear he'd been thinking about it.
“I was trying to keep it out of the back of my mind, but you have quite a few people on the team that like to remind you pretty much every day,” Belt said. “I got to the field today and [hitting coach Hensley Meulens] let me know I was on pace for zero home runs this year, so I guess I figured I’d do something about it.”
Belt did just that. Now he needs to keep doing it. And if Bumgarner wants to join in on the party, that's fine too.
