SAN FRANCISCO _ It was exactly the type of outing the San Francisco Giants needed from ace Madison Bumgarner. It was exactly the type of ending Buster Posey desired, too.
With the Giants and Dodgers tied in the bottom of the ninth, catcher Posey blooped a single into left field to plate Steven Duggar and send his club to a 2-1 walk-off victory on a night Bumgarner delivered a stellar performance.
Duggar started the ninth-inning rally with a 104-mile per hour single up the middle as he set a new career high with three hits in Wednesday's game. Duggar advanced to second on a single from Gerardo Parra and scored on Posey's game-winner.
Despite starting the day 7 games behind the Dodgers in the National League West, the Giants rallied to clinch a series victory and even the season series against their rivals at 3-3.
The Giants mounted a first-inning rally against Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, but were hurt by the cavernous confines of Oracle Park as the team scored just one run. With two on and one out, first baseman Brandon Belt dropped his bat to admire a 400-plus foot fly ball toward Triples Alley, but Dodgers right fielder Cody Bellinger tracked it down and held Belt to a sacrifice fly.
In any other ballpark, Belt's blast would have resulted in a three-run homer, but for the second time in as many games, Belt had a home run taken away by the dimensions of his home stadium. The Giants hit two balls to the warning track against Ryu in the first, but they failed to strike again against the Dodgers starter as he lasted eight innings while allowing just four hits.
Bumgarner wasn't quite as dominant as Ryu, but he turned in his best outing of the year, tossing five scoreless innings before a careless mistake potentially cost the left-hander a run in the top of the sixth.
With Kike Hernandez in scoring position, Bumgarner failed to break immediately to cover first base on a groundball down the first base line hit by Bellinger. Bumgarner eventually ran to the bag, but he was three steps behind Bellinger, who reached with his fifth infield hit of the year.
Despite starting the play at second base, Hernandez came all the way around to score the game-tying run, putting the only blemish on Bumgarner's final line. It's unlikely Bumgarner would have beaten Bellinger to first base, but the pitcher wasn't pleased with himself for committing an obvious mental error.
Regardless of the mistake, the Giants and their ace have many reasons to be encouraged by his performance against a tough Dodgers lineup on Wednesday.
The 18 swinging strikes he induced were Bumgarner's most since a Sept. 19, 2016, start against the Dodgers while his 87.4-mile per hour average cutter velocity was its highest since the left-hander returned from a shoulder injury suffered while dirt biking in April 2017.
Bumgarner's two-seam fastball velocity also climbed a tick against the Dodgers, as he maxed out above 93 miles per hour and finished the evening with a 91.9-mile per hour average, a mark he's reached just once since returning from the hand fracture that sent him to the injured list in 2018.
Though Bumgarner allowed a combined nine earned runs in his previous two outings, the Giants believed he was bound to improve as he typically does during the month of May. Bumgarner's career ERA in April of 3.45 is nearly a full point above his 2.67 mark in May, which is traditionally his best month of the season.
What made Bumgarner's outing most impressive is that it came against a Dodgers lineup that ranks among the most relentless in baseball. Los Angeles' sluggers fouled off 33 Bumgarner pitches and continuously forced him to work deep in counts, but the left-hander rarely showed any signs of fatigue in a 114-pitch outing.
While the Giants may have preserved a 1-0 lead if manager Bruce Bochy turned to his bullpen after just five innings from Bumgarner, the organization is more willing to allow its ace to work his way out of trouble. His 114 pitches on Wednesday matched the most he's thrown in a start since April 8, 2017, and tied the most he's thrown in a start since returning from his 2017 shoulder injury.
It's possible Bochy won't allow a starter to surpass the pitch threshold Bumgarner hit on Wednesday, but Bumgarner had company in the Giants clubhouse shortly after he left the game. In the bottom of the seventh, Bochy was ejected by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for arguing a low strike call on Posey.
The ejection was the second of the season for Bochy and the 76th of the manager's career.
