Giants ace Madison Bumgarner has been excellent this season, but he can’t do it all on his own. Despite his eight innings with two runs allowed, it was still enough to be overcome by the Reds, who left town with a 2-1 victory and two of three games in the series. San Francisco has lost nine of 11 games since the All-Star break but clings to a 2 1/2-game lead in the National League West.
“It’s disappointing when you have your starter throw like that,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “Just couldn’t get it going offensively. That’s a tough one.”
Bumgarner, who is 10-6 with a 2.09 ERA this season, allowed five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. He has a 1-2 record and 2.00 ERA in his past five starts, but has received a total of 11 runs in support during that span. The Giants didn’t put a single runner in scoring position Wednesday. It was a 1-1 game when red-hot Jay Bruce slugged a first-pitch fastball for a leadoff home run to right field to put the Reds ahead.
“I just didn’t make a good pitch,” said Bumgarner. “The way he’s going right now, he’s not going to miss those.”
“With Madison, he’s an ace in every sense of the word,” Bruce said. “The bottom line when it comes down to it, if he gives you a pitch to hit, you better do something with it. I was able to do that today. He really made one mistake all day and I was able to hit a home run. You have to be aggressive with him. He’s a strike-thrower and he’s going to give you something to hit.”
The Bruce homer made a winner out of Reds starter Dan Straily, who pitched a career-high 7 2/3 innings with one run, three hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Bumgarner’s two-out single in the bottom of the eighth prompted a pitching change, but Raisel Iglesias picked up the third out on Gregor Blanco’s ground ball.
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