Madison Bumgarner Strikes Out 11, Hits A Home Run, Is An Absolute Savage
I just wanna say — for a pitcher, Madison Bumgarner has one fuckin’ hell of a hack up there at the plate. After crushing this home run against the Braves yesterday, Bumgarner tied Noah Syndergaard for the coveted position of the pitcher with the most home runs in the MLB. This kinda begs the question of, what’s more impressive? A pitcher who can hit two home runs in one game, or a pitcher who can hit a home run in multiple games?
Since it’s phrased that way, two home runs in one game is more impressive, but you gotta love a pitcher who can go deep several times over the course of a season. Only seven pitchers have hit a home run this year, and Syndergaard is the only pitcher to go deep twice in the same game, while Bumgarner is the only pitcher who has homered in multiple games.
Have to give a slight nod to Bumgarner’s home run being more impressive than his performance on the mound, though, but only because the Braves are just that terrible offensively. The left-hander threw 7.2 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts, tying a season-high that he set against the Padres last month in his lone complete game on the year. Over his last nine starts, MadBum has a 1.27 ERA with 73 strikeouts in 64 innings, while opponents are hitting just .190 with a .516 OPS against him over that span. The Giants are 8-1 in those nine times that he’s taken the mound, too.