The San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 in a game that most of the focus in went to the pitcher’s duel between Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw.
For both star pitchers it hasn’t been the best of starts this season, but it was a pretty good performance for the both of them. Bumgarner, like his team, slightly edged Kershaw in the “face-to-face”, although not by much.
It’s going to bring out the best in you, for sure. There’s no way around that. You know that anytime you’re facing him, it’s going to be tough to scratch some runs across. And we were able to score just enough to win, so it was a big win for us. I felt great good tonight, mechanically. If I would have given up six runs, I would have said the same thing. I was just trying to get outs. That’s all I focused on.
He improved to 2-1 this season by striking out nine batters in eight innings, giving up five hits. Kershaw gave up seven hits in seven innings, including two runs in the first and fourth innings to Buster Posey; one of them an RBI single, the second one a home run, his third of the season.
Bumgarner got burned just once, in the fourth inning; Howie Kendrick grounded in to shortstop, which allowed Jimmy Rollins to score. Santiago Casilla who came on for the save in the ninth didn’t give up a hit, and the Dodgers ended up hitting just 5-for-32 on the day.
It was a nice bounce back for the Giants after losing the opener in the series 8-3 on Monday. They’re only 9-12 to start the season, although there’s nothing new about their woes in post-World Series years. They’ve missed the playoffs after the 2010 and 2012 titles.
The Dodgers looked a bit clueless as to how to get runs on Bumgarner, but might do better in the next game with Ryan Vogelsong on the mound for the Giants. Zack Greinke is pitching for the Dodgers. He’s 3-0 so far this season, with an ERA of 1.35.