The Giants will give up the DH in Thursday night’s game against the Athletics at the O.co Coliseum so that starter Madison Bumgarner can hit, CSN Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic reports. The Giants will become the first National League club to give up the DH since 1976, when the White Sox did so to let Ken Brett hit.
The Athletics have taken the first three games of their four-game series against the Giants, so manager Bruce Bochy was looking to do something to shake things up. Bumgarner may be a pitcher, but he’s no slouch at the plate. Since 2014, he has a .718 OPS with 11 home runs and 29 RBI in 205 plate appearances. There are plenty of position players who haven’t matched that. In fact, according to Baseball Reference, 273 players (min. 200 PA) have posted an adjusted OPS lower than Bumgarner’s 97 (100 is average) since the start of the 2014 season.
As for the pitching side of things, Bumgarner will take the mound with a 1.99 ERA and a 122/29 K/BB ratio in 108 1/3 innings.
