Madison Bumgarner pitched a dominant complete game shutout and Brandon Crawford hit a fourth inning grand slam to pace the Giants to a 8-0 Wild Card victory eliminating the Pirates from postseason competition.
Bumgarner had the Pirate bats off balance throughout the night painting the corners and mixing his fastball and off-speed pitches. The Pirates could only scratch together four hits and one walk in the contest and were not able to put more than one runner on until the ninth when the game had already been decided.
“We got outplayed tonight,” said Neil Walker. “Bumgarner went out there, he did what he wanted to do. He put up the strike zone and he made it tough on us.
“When they got up early on us we were trying to scratch and claw our way back and he was good from the first pitch til the last pitch.”
The Giants, on the other hand, were able to put runs up at will after the first time through the lineup. After hitting Volquez hard through the first trip, they struck gold in the fourth. Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence singled to start the inning and Brandon Belt walked to load the bases. Volquez then made the only major mistake of his outing leaving a 1-2 breaking ball over the heart of the plate allowing Brandon Crawford to drive it over the Clemente Wall for a debilitating grand slam and a 4-0 Giants lead.
“I tried to bounce it down, back foot, and the ball just kept going,” said Volquez. “It was a Bad spot. I made a mistake and it changed the whole game.”
Volquez returned for the fifth and was removed after walking the leadoff batter in the sixth. Justin Wilson inherited the runner and allowed him to score on a Belt RBI single.
Jared Hughes allowed two runs in the seventh and John Holdzkom allowed a run in the eighth to finish out the San Francisco scoring. Mark Melancon finished his 2014 campaign out with a perfect ninth with a strikeout.
Final Score: Giants 8, Pirates 0.
Starters Lines
Volquez (L, 0-1): 5+ IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K’s, 1 HR. 83 Pitches (55 Strikes).
Bumgarner (W, 1-0): CG, 4 H, 1 BB, 10 K’s. 109 Pitches (79 Strikes).
The Pirates season has ended with the loss. The Giants will now travel to D.C. to take on the Nationals in the NLDS starting Friday afternoon.
(Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire / USA Today Sports)
