It doesn't matter what the Giants record is.
It doesn't matter how many games he's won.
"Mad Bum" always rises to the occasion when he faces the Dodgers.
Madison Bumgarner dominated the Dodgers over eight innings and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles, 2-1, on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.
It's hard to fault the Dodgers who may have had a hangover after their champagne celebration in the locker room the night prior.
Los Angeles clinched their fifth consecutive National League West Division title on Friday night against their rivals, and were without five of their everyday starters in the lineup on Saturday.
Adding insult to injury, starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu, left the game in the third inning after taking a ball off the forearm (X-rays were negative).
"Hyun-Jin's x-rays were negative, that's a good thing," said Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts after the game. "I thought he pitched well and we'll see how he respons to treatment tomorrow."
San Francisco struck first after a leadoff double to start the game off the bat of Gorkys Hernandez.
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Three batters later, Buster Posey knocked him home with an RBI single to center field and the Giants led 1-0.
Following Ryu's departure, an assembly line of pitchers came out of the bullpen and headed to the mound including Ross Stripling and the newly reinstated Brandon McCarthy.
McCarthy pitched well in relief in his first appearance since July 20th, throwing three innings allowing just one run on two hits with no walks and two strikeouts.
"It's a little different coming out of the pen," said McCarthy of his appearance. "I'm happy with the results, but I'd rather not give up a run. I'm just trying to pitch as well as I can whenever I'm needed."
Hernandez was a thorn in the Dodgers' side all night, finishing the game 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored.
Austin Barnes provided all the offense for Los Angeles, homering off Bumgarner to leadoff the bottom of the eighth.
Barnes Solo shot to cut deficit in half pic.twitter.com/frud9Ae3Yb— Dodgers (@DodgersVideos) September 24, 2017
Barnes is batting .289 with 25 runs, 11 doubles, two triples, seven homers and 28 RBI in his last 50 starts.
The 93MPH fastball to Barnes was the only mistake Bumgarner would make all night as the left-hander improved to 4-9 on the season, allowing just one run on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts in 7 and 2/3 innings.
"I gave us a chance to win today and we did," said Bumgarner who had one of his best starts of the season. "It was a good win for us."
In fact, as one fan pointed out on Twitter, the only thing that could have stopped Bumgarner on Saturday night was a dirt bike.
look who's on deck to face bumgarner... ������ pic.twitter.com/ZGXB7xK37L— J.R. Hernandez (@JRHernandezLA) September 24, 2017
Bumgarner famously injured his throwing shoulder in a dirt bike riding incident in April while the team was in town to play the Colorado Rockies.
Sam Dyson got the save for San Francisco with a scoreless ninth inning, but not without some controversy.
With two outs and the tying run on first in Yasiel Puig, the Cuban slugger took off for second, appearing to have stolen the bag easily.
"I noticed he was pitching slow, so I took off and tried to get into scoring position so I could score the tying run," Puig said of the play.
However, Puig did not slide on the play and was tagged out by shortstop Brandon Crawford as he came up limping on the play.
"At the moment I was going to slide, I twisted my ankle," finished Puig. "I'm frustrated it was an out. If I was safe, we would still be playing."
His manager disagreed.
"He went on his own, and decided not to slide," said a visibly frustrated Roberts after the game. "You can't get thrown out like that, it can't happen. It's a bad baseball play. Plays like that when you're trying to win a championship can't happen."
O'Koyea Dickson pinch-hit in the third inning and recorded his first career big league hit with a single to right field.
.@okoyea23's first @MLB hit is in the books! 👏 #LetsGoDodgers pic.twitter.com/Q8ZOHvH5ou— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 24, 2017
One night after clinching the 2017 NL West Title, the Dodgers need to start looking ahead at home-field advantage in the MLB playoffs.
They are currently four games ahead of the Washington Nationals with eight games left for home field in the National League, and just one game ahead of the Cleveland Indians for home field in the World Series, should they advance that far.
Up Next:
Sunday will be Kershaw Day at the Ravine as three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw takes the mound in his final home start of the regular season opposite RHP Chris Stratton for the Giants. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10PM PST.
