DENVER — Madison Bumgarner summed up his day neatly.
“I didn’t feel like my command was very good at all,” he said. “I didn’t feel like my stuff was super good, either.”
That’ll lead to a bad day in most ballparks. At Coors Field, it’ll wreck your ERA. Bumgarner gave up seven runs — six earned — in five innings, although he didn’t take the loss as the Giants fell 9-8 to the Rockies.
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The last three runs weren’t totally his fault. Bumgarner got a double-play ball to second but Kelby Tomlinson appeared to have trouble tracking it as it shot past an umpire and made an error. Bumgarner then gave up a three-run shot to Trevor Story. Manager Bruce Bochy said Bumgarner would have gone out for the sixth if he had gotten the double play. Instead, it was a rough five-inning line.
Bumgarner gave up four runs on two homers in the first inning. This was the first time in four years he gave up four runs in the fourth. He tied a career-high by giving up three homers, two to Story.
“That’s the way the game is sometimes,” Bumgarner said. “Sometimes you’ve got it and sometimes you don’t.”
—- The Giants got Bumgarner off the hook when Alen Hanson hit a two-run pinch-hit shot in the eighth. Hanson has two pinch-hit homers this year. The rest of the Giants have three.
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“When he doesn’t play he’s a weapon off the bench,” Bochy said. “He’s a threat with his speed. We needed a homer and at that point and he gave it to us.”
It’s unclear what the Giants will do at second base next season, but regardless, Hanson looks like a lock to make the opening day roster. At the very least, he’s a perfect bench option.
—- The Giants added some pitching depth in the morning, calling up Casey Kelly, Pierce Johnson and Steven Okert. After making 44 appearances last season, Okert spent the first five months of this one in the minors, posting a 4.55 ERA for the River Cats. His first big-league appearance of 2018 was a good one. Okert retired the side in the sixth.
Johnson’s return was nearly disastrous. He walked two ahead of the heart of the lineup, but struck out Nolan Arenado and Matt Holiday and got Story to bounce into an out.
The Giants are likely just about done adding September call-ups. The only exception could be infielder Abiatal Avelino, acquired last week from the Yankees. The front office has discussed bringing him up.
—- The last time the Giants overcame a five-run deficit but didn’t win? Last June 15. That game was also at Coors Field, obviously.