Jayson Werth, Anthony Rendon and Wilson Ramos all got the night off with Clint Robinson, Danny Espinosa and Nats’ catcher Jose Lobaton playing the second game of four with the Giants in San Francisco.
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Bumgarner homered and doubled, and struck out 14 while pitching a three-hitter as the Giants beat Washington 5-0 Sunday, handing the Nationals their sixth consecutive loss.
After Strasburg was done for Washington, reliever Felipe Rivero couldn’t hold the Giants at two as San Francisco tacked on an insurance run in the seventh. He also said it was really special. TV: 10:05 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1, MASN (Washington), CSN Bay Area (San Francisco)PITCHING MATCHUP: Nationals LH Gio Gonzalez (9-4, 3.50 ERA) vs. Giants RH Jake Peavy (2-5, 3.75)Gonzalez has been outstanding over his last eight starts while going 5-0 with a 1.48 ERA.
A popular pick before opening day to win the World Series, the Nationals fell below. 500 at 58-59. With the road trip going as poorly as it is and Max Scherzer on the mound in the next game, this series will be one in which Matt Williams will push his team to win and bust their current slump. “That game is right up there with the best he’s thrown, (and) he’s thrown a lot of them”. His 14 strikeouts on the night, matched a career high for the three-time all-star.
“He did it all. That’s an impressive outing with how hot it was”.
Scherzer was plucked from the mound following the third inning, marking his shortest start since September 2012 – he went two innings in a game against the A’s. Marichal did it so many times.
Bumgarner’s home run gave him four for the second straight season.
Gonzalez was lifted after 2.2 innings, having allowed six earned runs. He has 35 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings during that span. “You don’t expect to score many runs against those guys….”
“Of course you want to win ballgames but our offense looked pretty good and I hope we can carry that over into tomorrow”, Harper said.
“I knew he hit it a long way”, Peavy said. Bumgarner’s eight home runs over the last two seasons are more than any two pitchers in baseball combined.
The big lefty permitted just three singles, and no runner made it past second base.
It was a forgettable performance for Ross, who allowed four runs on six hits in just four innings of work. He was roughed up for six runs, five hits and two walks. Sale went seven shutout innings on Sunday and only walked one as the White Sox downed the Cubs 3-1.
Brandon Belt followed with a drive to left field that carried in the warm air and struck the wall for an RBI double.
Angel Pagan and Joe Panik, meanwhile, will both head to Arizona when the Giants leave to continue their rehab.
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Giants RHP Mike Leake is set to come off the disabled list in time to start Tuesday’s game at St. Louis. The Giants will be leaning heavily on Bumgarner over the next seven weeks as they look to overcome a 2.5 game deficit in their division.
