Giants 10, Braves 1
SAN FRANCISCO -- Madison Bumgarner limited the Atlanta Braves to four hits over seven innings while striking out 11 and the San Francisco Giants backed him with more run support than in his previous four starts combined in a 10-1 victory Saturday at AT&T Park.
Gregor Blanco drove in a career-high four runs with a double and a triple as the Giants recorded their second consecutive one-sided victory over the National League East leaders after the Braves took the series opener on Thursday.
In recording his first-ever win over the Braves, Bumgarner logged 10 or more strikeouts for the second time this season and 10th time in his career, while at the same time lowering his earned-run average to 2.18 by allowing only one run.
The left-hander began the day 10th in the National League in ERA.
Bumgarner (4-1) hadn't won since opening the season with three consecutive victories. That was due in large part to the fact the Giants scored all of four runs in those four starts during the 26 1/3 innings he was on the mound.
Blanco nearly matched that number with one swing of the bat.
Pinch-hitting with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning, the left-handed hitter greeted Braves' right-handed reliever Cory Gearrin with a three-run double to right-center field, capping a four-run uprising that broke open what had been a 2-1 game.
Blanco's triple sandwiched doubles by Hunter Pence and Guillermo Quiroz in the eighth inning, as the Giants added four insurance runs. Pinch-hitter Brandon Belt capped the inning with a two-run single.
Paul Maholm (4-4) took the loss for the Braves, surrendering a solo home run to Pablo Sandoval in the first inning and RBI doubles to Brandon Crawford in the fourth and Buster Posey in the fifth.
Marco Scutaro got the game-changing fifth rolling with his second hit of the game, a one-out sinking liner to right on which the Braves' Justin Upton failed to make a shoestring catch. The ball rolled for a triple.
Maholm hit Sandoval on the right forearm with the next pitch, setting up Posey's double that turned Upton all the way around before short-hopping the right-field fence.
Pence was intentionally walked, and when acting Braves manager Carlos Tosca summoned the right-handed Gearrin from the bullpen, counterpart Bruce Bochy called upon Blanco as a pinch-hitter for Francisco Peguero.
Blanco smacked Gearrin's third pitch for the bases-clearing double.
Chad Gaudin worked a scoreless eighth inning and Jeremy Affeldt mopped up with a two-hit ninth.
Maholm, a left-handed hitter who had totaled only three hits in the previous four seasons against left-handed pitchers, surprised Bumgarner with a line-drive single to left field with two out in the fifth inning to produce the Braves' only run.
Evan Gattis, who doubled to open the inning, scored the run. Gattis, who also singled in the sixth inning, accounting for half the Braves' hits off Bumgarner.
NOTES: Carlos Tosca was managing for the second consecutive day in place of Fredi Gonzalez, who left the team after Thursday's win to attend his daughter Gigi's graduation from Georgia Southern. Gonzalez is expected back Sunday. ... The two losses go on Gonzalez's record. ... Madison Bumgarner's high strikeout total probably could have been predicted. The game matched the N.L pitching staff with the most strikeouts (San Francisco) against the team that had struck out the most (Atlanta). ... Bumgarner's other double-digit strikeout effort this season came April 19 against the Padres, when he fanned 10. ... Bumgarner has recorded a victory against every N.L. team except Miami. ... Marco Scutaro, who also had a single, stretched his hitting streak to 10 games. ... Buster Posey, a Georgia native, ran his hitting streak against the Braves to 10 games. ... Paul Maholm entered the game having allowed the N.L.'s lowest batting average against left-handed hitters (.082), but surrendered a single and a double to Brandon Crawford, the only lefty in the Giants' lineup.
