Madison Bumgarner: Bumgarner fans 14, homers in complete win

Before the start of the eighth, Adrianza replaced Tomlinson at second to get some playing time. After two straight games scoring no runs against the Dodgers, Yunel Escobar took matters into his own hands hitting a home run on the first pitch of Thursday night’s game.

San Francisco Giants’ left-hander Madison Bumgarner finished a 4-game series sweep of the Washington Nationals Sunday afternoon with his second straight complete game – his third of the season.

Bumgarner might have received a dash of charity from the official scorer in the fifth when his hard-hit liner to right got past Harper.

Bumgarner continued showing off in the seventh, smacking his fourth homer of the year on a solo shot to deep left off Casey Janssen. There shouldn’t be much concern with their struggles as it was just one night in which they couldn’t muster a hit, but it’s something that truly shows how risky the rest of the lineup can be.

“He did it all”, Giants manager Bruce Bochy gushed. “He’s so strong and bounces back so well. I made a few mistakes and thing added up on me”. “He might be the best in the bigs right now”. “And they did a lot of damage on the fastball”. Pitcher Felipe Rivero, who was smartly covering first base as soon as the ball was hit, then makes a sprawling catch from Rendon while somehow still managing to get his foot on the bag.

“Obviously I don’t do that very often”, he said.

But by the time the Giants scored their fifth run, the game was already over. Pitching in front of a large group of friends and family, the Berkeley, Calif., native appeared ready to go toe-to-toe with Bumgarner early in the game. “You think about it going into the game”, Ross said. He netted a career-high 26 missed swings on Sunday. He threw 31 pitches, 22 for strikes, and struck out two.

Danny Espinosa led off the fifth with a home run off the top of the wall in left-center. In this series especially, the offense responded.

He has allowed two runs in 25 1/3 innings in his last three starts, with 35 strikeouts. The same went for the Giants as they went three up three down with the four, five and six hitters.

“Good job of us bouncing back”, Bochy said.

“It’s not easy to record a four-game sweep”, Bochy noted. “Just a great homestand”. Reliever Doug Fister (yes, more than one member of the Detroit Tigers’ 2012 World Series staff pitched in this game) punched a sacrifice bunt past an onrushing Duffy for a fluke single.

The Blue Jays and the division-leading Yankees, separated by a half-game atop the AL East standings, will meet seven more times before the end of the season.

The rookie right-hander fanned six of the first nine hitters he faced through three flawless innings. The Giants now face the two teams with the best ERAs in the majors in the Cardinals (2.60) and the Pirates (3.19). “And to be able to get to them the way we have is a boost in the confidence”. “Hopefully we can take that into tomorrow, the next couple of days and keep having fun”. The Giants have been using.219-hitting OF Justin Maxwell in Aoki’s place in left field. Bumgarner snagged a line drive back up the middle by Ian Desmond.

Include Bumgarner’s offensive capabilities and he may be the best overall pitcher.

And San Francisco’s offense, which leads the National League in batting average (.271) and is third in runs scored (516) and slugging percentage (.415), wasn’t done.