Bumgarner, Giants Seek Winning Ways At Home
(AP) -- It's been over seven years since the San Francisco Giants lost six straight at home.
They'll try to avoid that fate behind Madison Bumgarner, who puts his personal four-game win
San Francisco (34-27) dropped the final five of a seven-game homestand before rebounding to win four of six on the road against Philadelphia and the New York Mets. The Giants failed to protect a late lead Thursday and lost 5-4 to the Mets on a walkoff hit.
"Hard-fought series. Good road trip," manager Bruce Bochy said. "You'd like to get greedy and get this one, but we just couldn't hold the lead."
Bochy's club has already had two five-game home losing streaks this season. San Francisco hasn't had a longer slide there since a seven-game skid from May 14-31, 2008.
Bumgarner (7-2, 3.38 ERA) failed to record a quality start for just the second time in 10 outings Saturday, but struck out a season-high 11 over eight innings in a 7-5 win over the Phillies. He allowed a grand slam and a solo homer after posting a 2.41 ERA in his previous eight starts.
"If we were able to win 7-5 every time I go out there, I'd dang sure take it," Bumgarner told MLB's official website. "The numbers might not be too sexy. But it's about winning games
The left-hander is 4-0 with a 3.48 ERA over his last five starts and he's reached the seventh in four of them.
Bumgarner is 4-1 with a 2.04 ERA in his last 11 starts against the Diamondbacks (27-32).
Paul Goldschmidt is 6 for 31 against Bumgarner but did hit a three-run homer off him on April 16.
The Arizona slugger is batting .408 with seven homers and 17 RBIs in his last 21 games
"We didn't play very well those first two games, but we came out and played better
It was a season high-tying fourth consecutive defeat for the Diamondbacks, who are batting .192 with runners in scoring position during that stretch while their starting pitchers have posted an 8.86 ERA.
Chase Anderson (1-1, 3.12) will be tasked with helping Arizona get back on track, but that will be difficult if his teammates struggle again to produce with him on the mound.
The right-hander gets an average of 2.85 runs of support, ranking among the lowest in the majors, and has received no runs in four of his past seven starts.
He's certainly pitched well enough to win more, going 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA during that span. Anderson allowed one run and eight hits with six strikeouts in 5 2-3 innings while not figuring in the decision of a 2-1 win over the Mets on Saturday.
Nori Aoki has never faced Anderson, but is batting .486 (17 for 35) with eight runs during an eight-game hitting streak. Aoki is hitting .433 in his last 23 contests.
Another Giants player swinging a hot bat is Joe Panik, who is hitting .397 with three homers and 10 RBIs during a career-best 15-game streak. He's reached base safely in 23 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the majors.
Updated June 12, 2015