The Giants continued their success in Milwaukee thanks to eight innings of brilliance from rookie Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner held the Brewers to three hits and three walks in the best outing of his young career. He also received his highest level of run support, thanks in part to a 2-for-4 night from Travis Ishikawa. Ishikawa has been solid in limited action, but has a nice little run going lately. Over the last four games he’s 6-for-16 with seven RBIs.
Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) – Madison Bumgarner pitched eight shutout innings to get his first major league win, as the San Francisco Giants beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-1, in the continuation of a four-game series.
Bumgarner (1-2), the 10th overall pick in the 2007 draft, was making his fourth career start and third of the season. The 20-year-old left-hander limited the Brewers to three hits and three walks, and struck out five in the victory.
“I got a beer shower, but honestly, it didn’t feel that good because I felt I pitched better in my earlier starts,” Bumgarner said. “It feels great to get my first win, but I just wanted to win a big game for the team.”
Bumgarner also added his first career RBI in the sixth inning, when the Giants took advantage of a Milwaukee fielding miscue and scored five runs. Travis Ishikawa had a two-run single for San Francisco, which was coming off a win in Monday’s series-opener. It is the first time the Giants have won two in a row since June 20 and 22.
Randy Wolf (6-8) gave up five runs — only one earned — in seven innings and took the loss for the Brewers, who have dropped three in a row. Corey Hart had his 20-game hitting streak broken after going 0-for-4.
Wolf struck out eight but walked four, and two of those got him into trouble in the sixth. He issued walks to Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez to begin the inning, and after Wolf fanned Buster Posey, Torres and Sanchez executed a double steal.
Wolf intentionally walked Pat Burrell to get to get to Pablo Sandoval, who hit a ground ball to short. Craig Counsell fielded it and intended to throw to Rickie Weeks at second base to initiate a double play, but instead side-armed the ball into the outfield, allowing two runs to score.
Wolf got Edgar Renteria to pop out before intentionally walking Aaron Rowand to load the bases. Ishikawa then hit a hot shot to Weeks, who wasn’t able to handle it as the ball bounced to the outfield. Burrell and Sandoval scored to make it a 4-0 game.
Bumgarner then grounded a single to right field to push the lead to five before Wolf got out of the inning.
“We had a sixth inning there that I didn’t see on the horizon,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “Wolf pitched five great innings, but then he walked the first two guys. We got the ground ball double play we wanted, but we didn’t turn it.”
The Giants held the lead thanks to Bumgarner, who escaped several minor jams. He walked consecutive batters with one out in the second inning, but got two straight outs to keep Milwaukee off the board. In the third, he had two on with one away before retiring the next two batters.
Bumgarner pitched well in the late innings, and made his way through the heart of Milwaukee’s lineup in the eighth, retiring Weeks and Hart on ground balls. He hit Prince Fielder, but got Ryan Braun to ground out to end the frame.
Posey’s sacrifice fly in the ninth made it a 6-0 game, and in the bottom half, pinch-hitter Joe Inglett hit an RBI single before Sergio Romo fanned Weeks to end the game.
Prior to Tuesday’s start, Bumgarner had pitched 24 career innings. He lowered his ERA to 2.86 with Tuesday’s performance…The Brewers placed starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday due to a strained left rib cage muscle. Gallardo suffered the injury Sunday, when he was named an All-Star for the first time in his career, and will have to miss the mid- summer classic. The Brewers also activated pitcher Doug Davis from the 15-day DL on Tuesday.