The San Francisco Giants were looking to extend their NL West lead in the desert against the second place Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, and luckily gave Madison Bumgarner enough support to get him a win. Bill Hall made the most of his first start as a Giant, the offense was well rounded and sustained, and the Giants won by a score of 5-2 at Chase Field.
Bumgarner (W 3-8) extended his quality starts streak to 10 after his six innings of work, including five hits, two earned runs, and six strikeouts. Bummy pitched himself into trouble in both the first and sixth innings, but both times pitched his way out of it, including back-to-back K’s to end the six and maintain a Giants one run lead.
Aubrey Huff started the offense off right with an RBI single in the first, which Willie Bloomquist answered with a solo shot in the third, his second of the year. Pat Burrell countered with his first triple of the year in the fourth, scoring Cody Ross from second, which Chris Young responded to with another solo shot, his 13th on the year.
Then it was Bill Hall’s turn, smacking the go ahead RBI single to center in the sixth. The Giants added two more insurance runs in the ninth, but every starter besides Bumgarner and Miguel Tejada had hit tonight. Hall and Huff were 2-4, Aaron Rowand was 2-5, while Eli Whiteside was 1-3 with a triple and an RBI.
Joe Saunders (L 3-7) was solid in his seven innigns of work, but it wasn’t enough this evening. He allowed eight hits, three runs, three walks and four strikeouts. Closer J.J. Putz came in for a non-save appearance in the ninth, but gave up those uncharacteristic two runs bumping his ERA to 2.48 on the year.
Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo were both solid in their inning of work apiece, while Brian Wilson once again made it interesting by allowing two baserunners in the ninth with two outs, but hunkered down and got his 20th save of the year.
With the win the Giants move to 39-29, 2.5 games ahead of Arizona in the NL West. Full box score can be found here.
The Giants will wrap up their series looking for a sweep in the desert Thursday as Ryan Vogelsong (4-1 1.81 ERA) will take the mound to face Ian Kennedy (7-2 3.23 ERA) for the D’Backs. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. PT with coverage on NBC Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
For more on the Black and Orange, head over to McCovey Chronicles.