The Good: Madison Bumgarner
Not only did Madison Bumgarner have a solid day on the mound with a six-inning, one-run no-decision, but at the plate he was just as memorable, hitting a home run against three-time Cy Young Award winning pitcher Clayton Kershaw in the first inning.
To recap the day of Bumgarner, on the mound he went six innings, where he allowed just one earned run on six hits and one walk. He collected eight strikeouts in the no-decision.
Then, at the plate, Bumgarner smashed a two-out solo home run off Kershaw in the first inning, and with that said, it should also be noted that’s Bumgarner’s second career home run off Kershaw.
What made this so great was this came of rivals who are two of the best pitchers in all of baseball, plus if you watch the reaction of Kershaw after he knows the ball was hit for a home run, it just shows how frustrated it made Kershaw to give up that particular homer.
Bumgarner has pitched 11 innings this season, standing at 1-0 overall. He’s given up 11 hits and four earned runs. He showed improvement in this start compared to Opening Day, as he went from walking five batters in the season opener to walking just the one batter on Saturday afternoon.
Kershaw, on the other hand, has pitched well this season, except for the slip-up against Bumgarner. In his no-decision day, Kershaw pitched eight innings, allowing two earned runs off four hits and one walk. Kershaw struck out five and allowed a total of two home runs.
Hopefully these two will get to have another head-to-head battle later this season, and if it were to occur, it will be interesting to see if Bumgarner can get the best of the lefty Kershaw for a third time in his career.
Next: The Bad: A broken belt with an error