Giants' Bumgarner takes another crack at D-backs
SAN FRANCISCO -- The last time Madison Bumgarner faced the Arizona Diamondbacks, it was Opening Day and the San Francisco Giants were in a different place.
Bumgarner started by throwing five perfect innings. What's more, San Francisco's ace homered, and the Giants had a 2-0 lead.
In the sixth inning, Bumgarner gave up the perfecto and three runs, but he homered again in the seventh inning to tie the game at 3. He became the first pitcher to homer twice in the first game of a season.
Eventually, though, San Francisco stumbled to a 6-5 loss.
Heading into the Friday rematch between Bumgarner and the Diamondbacks, the left-hander and the Giants (42-68) have been far from perfect.
The Diamondbacks (62-46), though, own the third-best record in the National League -- even if they are 14 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.
Arizona will promote Triple-A left-hander Anthony Banda to face San Francisco. It will be the second big league start for the 23-year-old, who is 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA.
He filled in for Taijuan Walker while the right-hander was away for the birth of his first child. Banda allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 4-3 loss to the Washington Nationals on July 22.
Banda was 7-6 with a 5.13 ERA in 19 starts for Triple-A Reno. Arizona general manager Mike Hazen said he wouldn't read too much into the numbers because Reno historically is tough on pitchers.
"You give up a fly ball in that place, and it goes for a three-run home run," Hazen told mlb.com. "It is what it is."
It's been a tumultuous season for Bumgarner, who was on the disabled list for all of May and June and half of July following a late-April dirt bike accident in Colorado. Friday will his fifth start since recovering from a sprained left (pitching) shoulder and bruised ribs.
Bumgarner (1-4, 2.92 ERA) threw seven scoreless innings at Dodger Stadium on Sunday. But typical of the way the Giants' season has gone, Los Angeles pulled out a 3-2 victory.
"It is what it is," Bumgarner said after that game. "I try to be a realist, and that's what it is. I try to keep it simple: try to win today. That's the only thing that can turn it around."
In 27 career games (26 starts) against the Diamondbacks, Bumgarner is 9-7 with a 2.58 ERA.
The NL West clubs haven't met since April 12. Arizona won four of the first seven meetings, but San Francisco took two of three at home.
The Giants are coming off a split of a four-game, home-and-home Bay Bridge Series with the Oakland A's. San Francisco took the finale 11-2 at AT&T Park on Thursday, with Ty Blach throwing eight effective innings and hitting his first career homer, a long three-run shot to center field.
"What a game he had," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "I think we were all just stunned by what happened there. ... I think he has been one of the silver-lining things that we've had this year."
The Phillies arrive in the Bay Area after getting swept in three games at Anaheim. The Los Angeles Angels pulled out a 5-4 win on Thursday with a two-run rally in the eighth inning, the tiebreaking run scoring on a wild pitch.
