Big ol’ San Francisco Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner, pitching as close as he ever does to his rural North Carolina hometown, was on top of his game for most of Wednesday night at Turner Field. Which meant a patchwork Braves lineup was overmatched.
Bumgarner was staked to an early lead and didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until the sixth inning as the Giants beat the Braves 6-1 in the series finale, clinching the series and handing rookie Williams Perez his second consecutive loss since returning from the disabled list.
Bumgarner (12-6) allowed seven hits and one run in 7 1/3 innings, with nine strikeouts and no walks. He retired 16 of the first 18 batters and had a 6-0 lead before Ryan Lavarnway’s one-out double in the seventh scored Jace Peterson.
“You get in the big leagues and you face a guy like that, and he’s on? That’s the result you get, plain and simple,” Braves first baseman Chris Johnson, who had a single and two strikeouts against Bumgarner. “We knew what we were getting into once the game started. Had a couple of opportunities, but just couldn’t get (a big hit).”
Nick Markakis had two of seven hits for the Braves, who lost for the 11th in 14 games and 18th in 24 games since a 42-42 start. They’ve averaged under 2.8 runs in the latter period and scored three runs or fewer in 18 of their past 23 games.
Bumgarner is 5-0 with a 2.09 ERA in his past six starts against the Braves, with 50 strikeouts and six walks in 38 2/3 innings.
“He was commanding his fastball on both sides of the plate,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He was throwing the slider backdoor to right-handed hitters and he was pretty dominant today against us.”
Perez (4-2) gave up a career-high 10 hits and six runs (five earned) runs in six innings and was replaced after facing three batters in the seventh and allowing a walk, a single and a two-run double by Matt Duffy that pushed the lead to 5-0. Duffy scored on Hunter Pence’s single off reliever Jake Brigham to make it a six-run bulge before the inning was over.
Gonzalez thought the performance by Perez wasn’t so bad.
“If you evaluate him on other stuff – the way he went about it – it’s better than the numbers show, it really is,” Gonzalez said. “But that’s not what we’re here for, we’re here to win ballgames. But I think if you look back and you look at the game today, you could say, ‘You know what, ground ball here, fly ball that we catch there, and he might have a little better outcome.’ He gave us six innings, three runs, you run him back out there because he had less than 80 pitches, and that’s when the big runs came – in the seventh inning.”
After going 4-0 with a 2.17 ERA in his past 10 games (eight starts) before the DL stint, Perez has allowed 19 hits and 14 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings in his past two starts, with six walks and two hit batters. He spent 5 ½ weeks on the DL for a bruised foot after being hit by a batted ball in a June 26 start at Pittsburgh.
Markakis led off the first inning with a single that extended his hitting streak to 12 games, but Bumgarner retired the next 11 batters before Johnson’s two-out single in the fourth inning.
The Braves didn’t get a runner to second base until Markakis’ one-out double in the sixth. Jonny Gomes followed with a single to put runners on the corners, and Bumgarner struck out Johnson to end the inning and preserve a 3-0 lead.
Bumgarner was staked to an early 2-0 lead when the Giants scored a pair of runs (one earned) in the second inning on three singles, a hit batter, and an error.
After Brandon Belt was hit in the lower leg by a pitch that bounced before it struck him with two out in the second, center fielder Eury Perez’s fielding error on Ehire Adrianza’s two-out single allowed Adrianza to reach second. With two runners in scoring position, No. 8 hitter Kelby Tomlinson singled for a 2-0 lead.
The Braves elected not to pitch around Tomlinson and face Bumgarner, who came in batting .256 (11-for-43) with three homers and a .465 slugging percentage.
“He’s the whole package,” Gonzalez said. “He’s such a good pitcher and good hitter, that in the second inning you got (runner at) second and third and two outs and you’d rather face Tomlinson than face him. Because (Bumgarner’s) got, what, three home runs? He’s a bat. So he can beat you. He’s a force.”
The Giants extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth when Adrianza doubled and scored on Tomlinson’s single.
