And with his team in a slide, Giants manager Bruce Bochy wouldn’t want anyone else besides Bumgarner on the mound to end the losing streak.
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Kazmir didn’t yield much in his 5 2/3 innings – two solo homers by Brandon Belt and an unearned run aided by his own error – but that would prove more than Bumgarner needed.
The best start turned in by a starter in Chicago was Jake Peavy’s five innings of two-run ball on Sunday’s finale. Kazmir allowed one run in 34 innings during the month of July (0.26 ERA), three starts with the A’s and two with Houston, with whom he allowed that lone run. He allowed three hits, walked four and struck out four.Lowrie connected off Giants reliever George Kontos with two outs in the eighth to complete the scoring.
The win was San Francisco’s ninth in its last 10 home games.
The Astros continued to struggle in the Bay Area, losing to the San Francisco Giants 3-1 on Tuesday. Heston would last two more batters before a walk to Luis Valbuena would lead to his departure.
The Giants scored a third in the sixth when Justin Maxwell lined a single and Ehire Adrianza followed with a dribbler off the third base line that Kazmir fielded and threw wildly past first and into the Astros’ bullpen.
Jed Lowrie also homered for the Astros, who stumble back to Minute Maid Park with a slimmer division lead after going 2-7 on their nine-game road trip. The Giants improved to 11-5….
The Giants can continue their recent home success by sweeping a brief two-game set from the Astros on Wednesday.
“We’ve seen now he definitely can sense a big moment and seems to pitch his best in big games”, catcher Buster Posey said.
Coming out of a much needed off day, and sending ace Madison Bumgarner to the hill, the upcoming two-game series against the AL West leading Houston Astros could serve as either a launching pad or roadblock on the route to October baseball. The Giants placed OF Angel Pagan (right patella tendinitis) on the disabled list and recalled OF Juan Perez from Triple-A Sacramento.2. Giants LF Nori Aoki passed a concussion test Tuesday and was eligible to play, but was nonetheless kept out of the starting lineup.
Belt’s first home run, on a full-count fastball, went to dead center field, and his second to left-center, which he said happens when he’s trusting his approach.
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The San Jose Giants were shut out by the Lake Elsinore Storm yesterday, 3-0. He started in left field, grounded out, popped up and made a circus catch before leaving the game with what the club announced as lightheadedness after four innings.
