Madison Bumgarner, Jake Arrieta pack a punch at the plate
SAN FRANCISCO – As they search for a way to attack the redoubtable Madison Bumgarner and close out their first-round series in three games, the Chicago Cubs may again turn to an unlikely source of offense – their pitcher.
Starter Kyle Hendricks and reliever Travis Wood combined for three RBI in Chicago’s 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants in Game 2 of their National League Division Series, and the Cubs will have their best-hitting pitcher going Monday at AT&T Park in Jake Arrieta.
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner is coming off his best offensive year, having batted a career-best .262 with two homers and seven RBI. In fact, he was one of the pitchers who expressed interest in participating in the Home Run Derby at the All-Star break after the topic was first broached in a question to Bumgarner, a two-time Silver Slugger award winner.
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Their at-bats against each other could make for a fascinating subplot as the Giants attempt to stave off elimination after being held to two runs in the two losses at Wrigley Field. For their careers, the dual threats have just two plate appearances against each other, with Arrieta collecting a hit and an RBI and Bumgarner working a walk.
“You just have to approach him like you would any of their other eight guys in the lineup,’’ Arrieta said about Bumgarner, who leads all major league pitchers with 12 home runs in the last three seasons. “Try and mix things up and obviously try and neutralize his power, because he’s a guy that can leave the ballpark at any time.’’
The Giants learned the same could be said of Wood, who has nine career homers in the regular season and entered Game 2 the fourth to replace the injured Hendricks. In the bottom half, Wood took George Kontos deep to make it a 5-2 game after San Francisco had sliced a four-run deficit in half.
Some Giants players felt Wood’s blast halted the momentum they gathered from their third-inning rally against Hendricks, whose two-run single in the second was the key blow that led to Jeff Samardzija’s early exit.
Bumgarner, who reached base on an error as a pinch-hitter in Game 2, said he’s keenly aware of his opposite number’s hitting ability when he’s on the mound.
“That’s the last thing any pitcher wants to do, give up a hit to another pitcher,’’ Bumgarner said Sunday. “Some guys you can afford to kind of go after a little more, and some guys you’ve got to pitch to them like a hitter, and some guys you might pitch tougher than a hitter because you really don’t want to take a chance on giving up a hit to them and getting something started.’’
Those chances seem pretty remote against Bumgarner, especially in the playoffs. At 27, his litany of postseason achievements has already elevated him into the pantheon of greatest October pitchers of all time.
They started in earnest in the 2010 World Series, when as a 21-year-old rookie he blanked the Texas Rangers over eight innings in a Game 4 victory, and since then his feats have grown to mythical proportions, only because he keeps building on them.
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Wednesday’s 3-0 shutout of the New York Mets was Bumgarner’s second in a wild-card game, extending his streak of scoreless innings in the postseason to 23. In his last nine outings, including that legendary five-inning save in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, he has allowed six earned runs in 68 2/3 innings for an 0.79 ERA.
“I look at it as, wow, it's just like what (Bob) Gibson did, it's like what (Sandy) Koufax did. And maybe with Whitey Ford and the Yankees prior to that,’’ Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, citing Bumgarner’s competitiveness as the trait that sets him apart.
“It's unique. So I hope the kids that are really watching right now understand how good this guy is and how it parallels throughout baseball history, what he's doing right now.’’
Of course, in Arrieta he’s opposing a pitcher with some special achievements of his own – namely, his 1.77 ERA last season and his astonishing 0.75 mark in the second half. Arrieta came back with another strong, if less dominant, season in 2016, putting up an 18-8 record with a 3.10 ERA.
Both pitching stars performed well against the other club this year, with Arrieta splitting his two decisions vs. San Francisco while allowing just three earned runs in 13 innings, and Bumgarner going 2-0 and yielding only two runs in 13 2/3 innings to the Cubs.
That sets up the likelihood of a taut pitching duel similar to the one Chicago won 1-0 in Game 1.
This time, though, the Giants will be relying on an ace who has thrown 23 consecutive shutout innings in do-or-die games, boosting their chances of extending their nine-game winning streak in elimination games.
“This club has a history,’’ said manager Bruce Bochy, who has been at the helm for the Giants’ three World Series titles this decade. “That’s what you like about what’s going on now, of finding a way to win that game they had to win and moving on. And that experience that’s so vital to draw on. And if you don’t have that, you may not have that belief that you can do it. Well, they know that they have done it.’’
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