The anticipation that came with Saturday’s matchup between Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw was tempered a bit as first pitch was delayed due to rain. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants eventually got underway 45 minutes later than the scheduled start time.
Kiké Hernandez led off with a double, which was followed by Bumgarner walking Puig to put two on with no outs in the top of the first. Justin Turner popped-up on the first pitch he saw, and Adrian Gonzalez had a slicing fly ball to left tracked down.
Matt Duffy was unable to come up cleanly with a Scott Van Slyke grounder, which loaded the bases. Trayce Thompson followed with another groundball to Duffy and the third baseman made the play a second time around to end the inning.
After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Angel Pagan went with an outside pitch and lined a one-out single to right field. Kershaw walked Hunter Pence with two outs, much to the southpaw’s dismay, as at least three of his pitches appeared to be within the strike zone.
Duffy grounded out to and the game remained scoreless through the first. Bumgarner retired A.J. Ellis, Charlie Culberson and Kershaw for a 1-2-3 second inning. He then helped himself by crushing a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning.
The home run was the second of Bumgarner’s career off Kershaw. He’s the lone pitcher to have a home run against the Dodgers’ ace. Hernandez improved to 2-for-2 on the day with a leadoff base hit in the third inning.
Turner dropped a flare single into shallow right field, putting runners on first and second with one out. Gonzalez followed with a base hit to left and the Dodgers had the bases loaded a second time.
CONTINUE READING: Scott Van Slyke injured, Dodgers tie game in ninth inning
