Bumgarner celebrated on his way to the dugout – either because Puig had doubled off of him earlier, and/or because the two have a contentious history – and quickly the two began to exchange words.
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Puig walked toward Bumgarner, who yelled, “Don’t look at me!”
Bochy said he didn’t take out Bumgarner because he needed more runs. The interaction led to the benches clearing, but the incident went no further. If his intention was to convince his manager to remove him from the game, he did that too.
Madison Bumgarner and Yasiel Puig might not have a lot of friends outside of their clubhouses, so it’s somewhat fitting they were in the middle of baseball’s latest near brawl Monday night.
These teams play each other five more times this season, and could see each other again in the postseason. Their magic number to win the AL West is now three.
Don’t look now, but the Dodgers can clinch a playoff berth this week.
Though it might seem the wild card-contending Mets have an easy opponent in last-place Atlanta, they’ve actually got their hands full.
Order of events: Bumgarner pitches great, initiates festivities with Puig, comes out of the game, bullpen comes in, Giants lose.
“I didn’t hear what was going on”, he said.
The near-brawl renewed a rivalry between two teams that began their existence in NY in the 1900s.
The 240 strikeouts are also a career-high for Bumgarner, who came close to breaking the record last season when he had 234 punch outs. “I guess looking at someone or staring in that direction might offend some people”. They’re going to handle it.
Certainly the Dodgers had no fun against Bumgarner.
Yordano Ventura (11-11) held the White Sox to three runs and nine hits, throwing 106 pitches, 72 for strikes.
Clayton Kershaw was almost equal to the task.
None of the four relievers looked all that good, which made Bochy’s decision to pull Bumgarner look even worse. Though he allowed a run on some stellar base running by Eduardo Nunez, who advanced to third on a wayward throw by Yasmani Grandal, and a costly wild pitch which brought the run home. “I got him out”. “That was pretty impossible to block”.
The Giants have lost five times in September despite having a lead in the eighth inning.
As Cueto hobbled off the field, Giants manager Bruce Bochy stepped into his personal torture chamber and waved to the bullpen.
Strickland was the next man out of the ‘pen. He fell behind to Andrew Toles before allowing a single. Seager snuck a single through the right side of the infield.
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