Bumgarner shows typical fire in atypical loss
SAN DIEGO -- Madison Bumgarner performed with his usual saber-toothed emotion Friday night. Yet he threw too many dull pitches during his six innings in the Giants' 4-1 loss to the San Diego Padres.
Did Bumgarner's intensity interfere with his ability as he surrendered four extra-base hits, including Adam Rosales' fourth-inning home run and Wil Myers' round-tripper one inning later? Bumgarner certainly didn't hide his displeasure as he stared down Rosales and Myers while they circled the bases. Travis Jankowski's fourth-inning attempt to bunt for a hit also prompted a perturbed reaction from Bumgarner.
But Giants manager Bruce Bochy and Bumgarner himself denied his anger clouded his judgment or affected his pitching command.
"I'm out there competing," said Bumgarner, who recorded a one-hit shutout against Arizona last Sunday in his previous start. "This is an important game for us. They all are; I'm giving everything I got and everyone else is, too.
"Maybe when I was younger I might have felt stuff stick with me longer. But I feel like, honestly, I've done a good job mentally of moving on when some adversity does come up [and] things don't go the way you want it to. You just move on to the next guy. A lot of times in years before, stuff like that happens and it starts piling up and it's a lopsided game before you know it. So you got to move your focus to the guy at the plate and making pitches. I feel like we've done a good job of that."
Bumgarner's ornery behavior didn't bother Bochy.
"He's a competitor," Bochy said. "You've seen him; that's who he is."
That's who he was as he made sure Rosales didn't celebate his home run too much. And that's who he was after Myers froze his follow-through on his home run swing just a few moments too long for Bumgarner's taste.
"I was just watching it with him, that's all," Bumgarner said with the tiniest hint of a smile briefly crossing his face. "I didn't have anything else to do at the time."
Bumgarner sounded slightly vague as he recounted Jankowski's bunt. However, he displayed no anger.
"That was kind of a weird deal," said Bumgarner, who fielded the bunt and deftly flipped the ball from his glove to first baseman Brandon Belt for the out. "I knew it was a close play, so they were going to [review] it, so I was just waiting around and I thought I heard somebody say something. ... It seemed to be just a misunderstanding."
Chris Haft has covered the Giants since 2005, and for MLB.com since 2007. Follow him on Twitter at @sfgiantsbeat and listen to his podcast. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét