Giants overcome injury to Bumgarner, beat Cardinals 8-4
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Austin Slater hit a pinch-hit grand slam, San Francisco overcame an early injury to Madison Bumgarner and the surging Giants held on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-4 on Saturday night.
Pablo Sandoval homered and drove in three runs as the Giants won for the sixth time in eight games. Kevin Pillar added two hits.
Paul Goldschmidt hit his 16th home run for St. Louis.
Bumgarner was knocked out of the game with an elbow contusion shortly after getting hit near his pitching elbow by a 98 mph line drive off the bat of José Martínez in the first inning. San Francisco’s ace initially stayed in the game and wore a protective sleeve on his left arm when batting in the second. Manager Bruce Bochy made a change moments after Bumgarner took the mound to start the third.
The Giants said X-rays taken on Bumgarner’s arm were negative.
Sam Dyson (3-1), the second of six San Francisco pitchers, retired six batters to earn the win.
Bumgarner wasn’t the only one on the field who got hurt by a batted ball. Home plate umpire Mike Everitt left the game after taking a sharp foul ball off his mask in the sixth inning, causing a 10-minute delay. Everitt was taken out of a game June 4 in Washington when he was hit in the chest by a pitch.
Lance Barrett, who had been working second base, replaced Everitt behind the plate and three umpires finished the game.
Slater, batting in the pitcher’s spot in the fourth, helped San Francisco overcome the loss of Bumgarner with his first career grand slam.
It came one batter after an error by Cardinals left fielder Tyler O’Neill loaded the bases. O’Neill settled in under Joe Panik’s fly ball but pulled off at the last second and let the ball drop, as he looked toward center fielder Dexter Fowler.
Sandoval had a sacrifice fly in the first and a two-run home run in the seventh.
Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (5-9) allowed five runs (four earned) in four innings.
GOLDY’S HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Goldschmidt’s home run was his second in two days at Oracle Park and the 13th of his career at the Giants’ waterfront ballpark, the most by any opposing player.
FREAKISH NUMBERS
Before he was removed from the game, Bumgarner struck out two batters, giving him 1,706 for his career. That’s the second-most by a Giants pitcher in the San Francisco era. Juan Marichal tops the list with 2,281.
TRAINERS ROOM
Cardinals: Yadier Molina singled as a pinch-hitter in the ninth after being held out of the starting lineup again because of a sore right thumb. “It’s a tolerance issue right now, something we just want to be smart about,” manager Mike Shildt said. … Matt Carpenter resumed baseball activities, including swinging a bat. Carpenter has been out since June 29 due to a lower back strain. … 2B Kolten Wong came out of the game due to left calf tightness.
UP NEXT
Cardinals RHP Jack Flaherty (4-5 4.90 ERA) is winless and has an 11.37 ERA in two career starts against the Giants. San Francisco RHP Jeff Samardzija (5-7, 4.32) has never beaten St. Louis in three career starts at Oracle Park.
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