Giants' Bumgarner to square off again vs. Mets' Syndergaard

Madison Bumgarner and Noah Syndergaard will face each other Tuesday night for the first time since their classic duel in the 2016 National League wild-card game, when Bumgarner tossed a shutout to lift the San Francisco Giants past the New York Mets.

But Tuesday will mark a rematch in name only for the current Mets and Giants, both of whom are mired near the bottom of the NL as New York hosts San Francisco in the opener of a three-game series.

The left-handed Bumgarner (3-5, 4.01 ERA) is scheduled to oppose the right-handed Syndergaard (3-4, 4.90 ERA) at Citi Field, where the two traded zeroes in the 2016 matchup eventually won by the Giants, 3-0.

Bumgarner struck out six and allowed just four hits in his third postseason shutout, but he was left no margin for error by Syndergaard, who allowed just two hits and struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings. Conor Gillaspie finally put Bumgarner in line for the win when he hit a three-run homer in the ninth off Mets closer Jeurys Familia.

This season has been a far different tale for both teams, each of whom were off Monday. The Mets concluded a rough road trip Sunday, when they fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-1 in the rubber game of a three-game series. The Giants earned just their second series win in their last nine tries Sunday by beating the host Baltimore Orioles 8-1 in the finale of a three-game interleague set.

The Mets went 2-5 on their West Coast trip but were left lamenting what could have been a far more successful 4-3 trek. New York blew a five-run seventh-inning lead last Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who scored four runs in the ninth inning off closer Edwin Diaz to complete a 9-8 comeback win.

On Saturday night, the Mets held a four-run lead with ace Jacob deGrom on the mound in the seventh inning but fell to the Diamondbacks, 6-5 in 11 innings.

The Dodgers actually helped the Mets gain a game in the standings over the weekend by sweeping the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies. Still, embattled manager Mickey Callaway knows New York -- which endured losing seasons each of the last two years and will enter Tuesday with the fifth-worst record in the NL at 28-31 -- is running out of time to prove it is a contender even though it is just five games behind Philadelphia.

"Inconsistency is not going to win you games," Callaway told reporters after the Mets fell to 4-10-4 in series this season. "That is why we are where we are in the standings and what our record looks like. We have to do better."

Bumgarner's four-hit shutout in the 3-0 win in the 2016 wild-card game likely represented the end of an era for the Giants, who won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014 but won just one game in 2016 while getting eliminated by the eventual World Series champion Chicago Cubs in the NL Division Series.

The Giants finished a combined 50 games under .500 the next two seasons and embarked upon a rebuilding plan this season, when former Dodgers executive Farhan Zaidi was named president of baseball operations and Bruce Bochy, who managed the three World Series winners, announced he would retire once his contract expires at the end of the year.

The Giants have the second-worst record in the NL at 24-34 and the Senior Circuit's worst run differential (minus-76) but will enter Tuesday's game with a rare burst of momentum after beating the Orioles by a combined margin of 16-3 on Saturday and Sunday.

"We pitched well, played good defense the last couple of days and swung the bats well," longtime Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford told reporters after he hit a pair of solo homers Sunday afternoon. "There haven't been a whole lot of games lately like that. It's nice to get a couple in a row and keep going with it."

Bumgarner, who is the most recent pitcher to throw a shutout in postseason play, took the loss in his last start last Wednesday, when he allowed two runs over six innings as the Giants fell to the Miami Marlins, 4-2. The 29-year-old left-hander, who is a candidate to be dealt at the July 31 trade deadline, threw at least six innings in all six of his starts in May.

Syndergaard didn't factor into the decision in the loss to the Dodgers last Wednesday, when he exited with the five-run lead after allowing three runs over six innings.

Bumgarner is 6-0 with a 1.69 ERA and one complete game -- a two-hit shutout at Citi Field on Aug. 3, 2014 -- in seven regular-season starts against the Mets. Syndergaard is 3-2 with a 2.86 ERA and one complete game -- a two-hitter in a 4-1 win at what was then known as AT&T Park last Sept. 2 -- in five regular season starts against the Giants.

Bochy enters the series with 999 wins at Giants manager. Only Hall of Famer John McGraw (2,583 victories) has won more games with the franchise.

--Field Level Media