SAN FRANCISCO: Madison Bumgarner pitched himself into the San Francisco record book, took a share of the major league lead for wins and, most important to the soft-spoken southpaw, moved his team one step closer in an NL West race that could go down to the wire.
Bumgarner struck out eight on the way to his 18th victory, and the Giants moved within one game of NL West-leading Los Angeles by beating the Dodgers 9-0 on Friday night.
“It’s not hard to get up for the Dodgers series, especially the circumstances we’re in,” Bumgarner said. “The offense did an unbelievable job and kept scoring runs.”
Pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa splashed a three-run homer into McCovey Cove, and Brandon Crawford hit a two-run drive in the fifth to help Bumgarner win his fifth straight start. Buster Posey and Crawford hit RBI doubles in the first as the Giants jumped on Hyun-Jin Ryu (14-7).
The Dodgers’ left-hander exited after only one inning because of irritation in his pitching shoulder. He said it’s similar to the problem he dealt with in May that landed him on the disabled list, raising doubt whether he will pitch again this season.
Ryu will be re-examined Saturday in the Bay Area.
“I’m staying positive. I felt this before in the past, so hopefully it will be the same time that it took to recover from that,” Ryu said through a translator. “I think it was a week or two.” AGENCIES
