Friday, August 5, 2011

Short of support, Bumgarner dealt tough loss

After beating him twice in Series, Giants can't solve Lee

Adam Berry
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- For all the success the Giants enjoyed against Cliff Lee in the 2010 World Series, beating him twice in five games, Thursday night served as a reminder of just how good the veteran left-hander can be.

Lee scattered seven hits and struck out eight in his Major League-leading fifth shutout of the season, shutting down a Giants lineup nearly identical to the one that put up eight runs a day before, as the Phillies prevailed, 3-0, in AT&T Park despite one of Madison Bumgarner's best starts this season.

Bumgarner gave up back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning, but with Lee on the mound, that was all the Phillies needed.

"I've never seen him off," Giants shortstop Orlando Cabrera said. "That's the truth. Not even on TV."

Lee retired 10 straight batters between the fourth and seventh innings, throwing 29 of 33 first-pitch strikes as he demonstrated pinpoint command of all his pitches. The lefty said after the game he wasn't thinking about last year's World Series, instead focusing on the current group of Giants hitters, and his performance reflected that.

"That was probably the best game I've had as far as commanding the ball," said Lee, who is now 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA in four regular-season starts against the Giants. "Basically, everything was working. It was one of those nights where I was locating everything. That was it."

Lee needed only 106 pitches -- 76 of them strikes -- to shut out the Giants, leaving them with nothing to do but tip their caps toward the dominant lefty.

"He's tough," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "When he's on, he's as good as anybody, and he showed it tonight."

Bumgarner was about as good as he's been all year, though he left pitches up in the zone that resulted in consecutive second-inning homers by Hunter Pence and John Mayberry. After that, however, Bumgarner was on his game.

He retired 12 straight batters until Shane Victorino singled in the sixth, striking out seven batters over that span. He exited after eight strong innings, giving up six hits and two walks while striking out nine.

Bumgarner entered the game tied with Pittsburgh's Charlie Morton for the fewest home runs allowed in the Majors this season by qualifiers, with five. The back-to-back shots to left field by Pence and Mayberry pushed his total to seven, still tied for second fewest in the Majors.

"He made a couple mistakes there in that second inning, but after that, he really did a nice job. Eight innings of great work by Bum," Bochy said. "He should feel good about that outing."

As well as Bumgarner recovered, Lee never faltered. The veteran left-hander, who took the loss for the Rangers in the first and final games of the 2010 World Series, made sure the Giants stayed off the board. He struck out Cody Ross four times, allowed only one extra-base hit -- a Carlos Beltran double in the ninth -- and forced the Giants to strand six runners.

"I think he's one of the best left-handed pitchers in the big leagues right now," Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval said. "It's good to face those guys right now because you know it could happen in the National League finals."

It appeared the Giants might rally in the eighth, as Aubrey Huff led off with a single and Andres Torres reached on an infield single, but Lee struck out Aaron Rowand and induced a groundout by Jeff Keppinger to escape unscathed. Right-hander Santiago Casilla entered for Bumgarner, giving up an RBI single by Pence, a Trade Deadline acquisition by the Phillies who has added a potent right-handed bat to an already imposing lineup.

"Anytime you pick up a player like Pence, you're going to be a better club all around," Bochy said.

And Beltran gave the Giants a chance to score in the ninth, knocking a one-out double to left field, but Lee forced Cabrera to pop out and struck out Ross, putting the finishing touches on a dominant performance.

The lack of support was certainly nothing new for Bumgarner, as he has now been backed by three runs or fewer in 20 of his 23 starts this season. Thursday was the eighth time this year the left-hander received no run support.

But at the end of the night, Bumgarner -- different mechanically but with a similar array of pitches -- was simply impressed with Lee.

"The way he was throwing, it looked like he could've thrown 14 innings," Bumgarner said. "He's somebody that you'd definitely like to model yourself after. He's one of the best pitchers in the game."

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