With the Arizona Diamondbacks racking up W's left and right the San Francisco Giants were in dire need of a winover the Houston Astros to keep up. Madison Bumgarner took the bump, getting some payback from his rough start in Houston last week, hoping for some support to another solid outing. it came from the former Astro, Jeff Keppinger, playing the hero Friday night, knocking in the only runs for the Black and Orange. And with another gutsy bullpen performance, the Giants held on for a 2-1 win at AT&T Park.
Bumgarner (W 8-12) sprayed five hits over six and 1/3 innings tonight, keeping Houston to only one run, walking three and fanning two along the way. Bummy was much sharper than his last outing, giving up a career high 11 hits to these same Astros, inducing 13 ground outs compared to only three fly outs over the course of his 95 pitches this evening.
Keppinger's clutch RBI double turned out to be all the offense the bullpen needed as Ramon Ramirez pitched a brilliant one and 2/3 innings with no hits and with strikeouts, while Santiago Casilla earned his second save of the season with two strikeouts in the ninth. Carlos Beltran was the lone Giant with multiple hits, going 2-3 with a walk and a double.
With the win the Giants move to 70-62 on the season, three games back of Arizona in the NL West. Full box score can be found here.
AT&T Park will be buzzing tomorrow as Giants call-up Eric Surkamp makes his MLB debut for the Black and Orange Saturday, taking on Brett Myers (3-13 4.95 ERA) for the Astros. First pitch is set for 6:05 pm PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
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