Bumgarner Dazzles In Start, Giants Fall 4-2

SAN JOSE, CA -Madison Bumgarner dazzled on the mound in front of a sellout crowd at Municipal Stadium on Monday night, but it was the Modesto Nuts earning a 4-2 victory over the San Jose Giants in the finale of a four-game series. With the loss, San Jose (38-51 overall, 8-11 second half) dropped three out of four to the Nuts and finished their seven-game homestand with a 2-5 record.
Bumgarner surrendered just one unearned run over six strong innings. The San Francisco ace, who was making his second rehab start with San Jose, issued only one walk and struck out eight during his 86-pitch outing. Bumgarner retired 17 out of the 21 batters he faced.
Modesto's Joey Curletta hit a tiebreaking solo home run in the top of the seventh before smacking a two-run homer in the ninth - both off of Giants relievers - to lead the Nuts to victory.
Jalen Miller (2-for-4, HR, RBI) had two hits, including a solo home run, to lead San Jose offensively in defeat. Ronnie Jebavy (2-for-4, RBI) also produced a pair of singles and drove home a run.
Bumgarner began his night retiring the first seven Modesto hitters he faced, three of which came via the strikeout. With one out in the top of the third, Willie Argo singled for the Nuts' first hit of the game. Argo then stole second before a two-out walk to Braden Bishop. Eric Filia was up next and his grounder to first was misplayed by Jonah Arenado for an error. The miscue allowed Argo to score all the way from second with the first run of the night, however Arenado recovered to throw out Bishop at third base ending the inning.
The Giants then immediately tied the game when Miller smashed a one-out solo home run to left in the bottom of the third. The homer was Miller's sixth of the season.
Bumgarner then breezed through scoreless fourth, fifth and sixth innings to keep the game tied 1-1. Bumgarner struck out the side in the top of the fourth working around a Gianfranco Wawoe two-out single. He then set down Modesto 1-2-3 in the fifth and sixth frames. Bumgarner struck out at least one batter in every inning he pitched except the third. The four-time Major League All-Star left the mound at the end of the top of the sixth to a standing ovation.
The Giants though were unable to take the lead against Nuts starter Nathan Bannister. Bryan Reynolds led off the bottom of the fourth with a single before Gio Brusa walked with two outs, but both runners were stranded. In the bottom of the fifth, Miller singled with one out, but Bannister retired the next two hitters. Then in the sixth, Aramis Garcia was hit by a pitch with one out, but advanced no further than first base.
Caleb Simpson then took over out of the San Jose bullpen to begin the top of the seventh and promptly allowed a leadoff home run to deep left center off the bat of Curletta. The homer gave Modesto back the lead at 2-1.
Still trailing by a run, the Giants threatened in the bottom of the eighth. Facing Nuts reliever Matt Festa, the inning began with Jebavy getting hit by a pitch. Reynolds then walked with one out to advance the potential tying run to second. Garcia though flied out to the warning track in deep right before Heath Quinn struck out swinging to end the inning.
Curletta's second home run of the night then extended the Modesto lead in the top of the ninth. With Michael Cederoth (2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO) on the mound, Chris Mariscal was hit by a pitch to leadoff. Curletta then belted an opposite-field two-run homer down the right field line to make the score 4-1. The home run was Curletta's team-leading 11th of the season.
San Jose mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth scoring once before ultimately falling short. Back-to-back one-out singles from Jonah Arenado and John Polonius brought the tying run to the plate. Miller then struck out, but Jebavy followed with a single up the middle to plate Arenado cutting the Nuts lead to 4-2. However, Modesto closer Art Warren came back to strikeout Ryan Howard on a 3-2 pitch to seal the Nuts victory.
Bannister (5-5) earned the win after tossing six innings with one run allowed. The right-hander gave up four hits, walked one and struck out five. Warren picked-up his fourth save of the year.
Simpson (0-5) was saddled with the loss.
Notes
* The Giants scored a total of only 13 runs during the seven-game homestand (1.9 runs per game).
* San Jose is now 11-11 against first-place Modesto this season, but just 3-8 versus the Nuts at Municipal Stadium.
* Bumgarner was making his fourth rehab start overall. He also pitched on June 25 for the AZL Giants (Rookie), June 30 at Sacramento (Triple-A) before starts on July 5 and Monday night with San Jose. Bumgarner originally pitched at San Jose as a 19-year old in 2009 compiling a 3-1 record with a 1.48 ERA over five starts.
* The Giants out-hit Modesto 7-5 on Monday. San Jose was just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
* Reynolds (1-for-3) was activated off the Temporary Inactive List before the game after playing in Sunday's Futures Game in Miami.
* Miller has homered in back-to-back games.
* Bannister has a 1.06 ERA (4 ER/34.0 IP) over his last five starts.
* Monday's attendance of 4,479 was the third sellout crowd of the homestand at Municipal Stadium.
 
On Deck
Following an off day, the Giants embark on a seven-game Southern California road trip to Rancho Cucamonga (four games) and Lake Elsinore (three games). Wednesday's series opener against the Quakes is a 7:05 PM first pitch at LoanMart Field. Albert Suárez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Rancho Cucamonga is expected to counter with Dennis Santana (5-6, 3.69 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:45 PM.