San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner was on fire Wednesday, as he played in his first postseason complete game, and did so with a flourish, striking out 10 batters and leading the Giants to an 8-0 shutout of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League wild card game.
Also playing well for the Giants in yesterday’s road win was Brandon Crawford, who hit his third career grand slam in the fourth inning, and also became the first shortstop to pull off such a feat in postseason action. “That’s crazy,” said Crawford, feeling overwhelmed that he had actually made history with his performance. “With all the great shortstops that have played before, that’s pretty special. I’m happy to be able to do it.”
Overall, Bumgarner had a jaw-dropping performance against the Pirates, only allowing an opposing runner past second base in the eighth inning. While the Pirates threatened to score off errors from Giants infielders Crawford and Joaquin Arias, Bumgarner ensured that his complete game would be a shutout as well, as he struck out Jordy Mercer and forced a ground-out off Andrew McCutchen in the ninth.
“It’s fun,” said Bumgarner following his team’s big win. “If you’re not playing, you can be excited and nervous and all that. But if you’re pitching in the game you’ve got to try to push that all aside and try to make pitches like we did tonight.” Bumgarner went 18-10 in the regular season, fanning 219 batters and walking only 43, with an impressive ERA of 2.98.
The Giants will be facing the Washington Nationals Friday, playing the first game of a five-game National League Division Series.