Madison Bumgarner continued his postseason dominance against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLCS on Saturday night. After the game, Bumgarner noted the importance of getting through the seventh inning against the St. Louis lineup.
You think Madison Bumgarner didn’t see what the Cardinals’ lineup did to poor Clayton Kershaw during the NLDS? You better believe he did.
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Speaking after his masterpiece of an outing in the San Francisco Giants’ 3-0 victory over the Cardinals, Bumgarner spoke directly to the fact that he knew it would be challenging to get through the seventh inning against the St. Louis lineup. From CSN Bay Area:
"“I knew the seventh inning would be big-time. I knew that was a big inning to get through. Regardless of whether I gave them anything to hit or any momentum, I kind of figured they’d feel they had some going into that inning.”"
By maintaining his dominance through the seventh inning and into the eighth inning, Bumgarner did what Kershaw could not do, and Kershaw had two shots at it. A bonus of getting through a clean seventh inning was that Bumgarner did not have to watch anything like this:
Bumgarner has been historically good this year and in postseasons past, something he continued on Saturday.
Madison Bumgarner this postseason: A 0.76 ERA. The Giants' collective ERA this postseason: 1.14 in six games.
— SI MLB (@si_mlb) October 12, 2014
Madison Bumgarner lowers his postseason road ERA to a mind-boggling 0.59 ERA in #SFGiants 3-0 victory over #STLCards in Game 1.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 12, 2014
This was 4th time in 9 career postseason starts that Bumgarner has thrown at least 7 shutout IP #sfgiants #stlcards
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) October 12, 2014
Over last 10 postseasons, Bumgarner is one of 8 pitchers with at least 5 starts of 7+ IP and 2 or fewer ER . . .
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 12, 2014
Yes, 26 2/3 postseason road scoreless streak for Bumgarner, which is #MLB record.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 12, 2014
Surprising as this is to say, it stands to be a huge advantage for the Giants if there is a rematch of the Game 1 pitching match-up between Bumgarner and Adam Wainwright. No matter what Wainwright says about his pitching elbow.