GameDay: Madison Bumgarner Marvelous For Giants In Wild Card Game
(KPIX 5) -- The only suspense in Pittsburgh was whether Madison Bumgarner could chug four beers at once in the victorious clubhouse after the game. He's not a champagne bubbly guy. He's a Bud guy.
"This 4-pack's for you, Madbum."
Bumgarner ran his scoreless streak to 16 innings in the postseason: Ten strikeouts, just one walk, 109 pitches in three hours, 12 minutes. Thanks for coming, drive home safely.
Bumgarner's reputation as Mr. October on the Mound is gaining momentum. He's now 4-2 in the postseason, and this was no cheapie. The Pirates were fourth in the league in scoring and managed to get just three runners in scoring position. And that's where they stayed, thanks to Bumgarner's command performance.
When this guy is on his game, and it's quite often, he's more precise than a Rolex. And the timing of this win was season-saving for San Francisco.
The game was zapped of any drama when Brandon Crawford hit the first-ever grand slam for a shortstop in post season history. Four to nothing, one to nothing, it didn't matter. As Tim Hudson said, "After that ball went over the fence, it was game over."
Sure, it made it easier for Bumgarner to challenge hitters, but he had his no-hit stuff and it didn't take the hometown crowd long to realize which team had the ace and which had the Joker.
Pirate fans were fuming after the game that Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle's decision to start Garrit Cole on Sunday doomed their chances in Wednesday night's game. Was Cole going to match Bumgarner? No chance. Not on this night, not on any night in October.
It's hard to believe Bumgarner is just 25 years old. Just five years ago, he became the second youngest pitcher ever to start a game for the San Francisco Giants. One year later he became the youngest pitcher in franchise history to pitch and win a postseason game and later threw eight shutout innings in the World Series.
Bumgarner is a 25-year old kid that already has two World Series rings. Willie Mays never won a Fall Classic in San Francisco, neither did Willie McCovey or Juan Marichal.
Now, Bumgarner's gem has the Giants in position to win a third World Series. Would you bet against him?
When Bruce Bochy wanted to remove Bumgarner in the ninth inning, Bumgarner told him, "I ain't comin' out."
Give that man a Bud. No, wait. Give him four.
See you on TV.
