Francoeur's Slam Not Enough As Phils Fall To Bumgarner, Giants
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Phillies had more success against Madison Bumgarner than they've had in a long time. They still couldn't beat the San Francisco Giants' ace.
Jeff Francoeur hit a grand slam and Andres Blanco also homered off Bumgarner, but Philadelphia lost its 10th in 12 games, 7-5 to the Giants on Saturday.
Bumgarner (7-2), the World Series MVP, struck out 11, while giving up six hits and walking none in eight innings.
"I can't throw much better and I gave up five runs," Bumgarner said. "I'll take throwing the ball that way any time. The pitch to Francoeur came back over the middle. It was supposed to be in."
The five runs allowed tied a season high for Bumgarner.
"We scored five runs off (Bumgarner) and that's pretty tough to do," Francoeur said. "In games like this against a team like this, you can't afford to make mistakes."
Severino Gonzalez (2-2) gave up six runs in 2 2-3 innings.
"We need length from our starting pitchers," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "That's very important going forward."
The start of the game was delayed 29 minutes by rain.
Angel Pagan's RBI single and Brandon Belt's sacrifice fly made it 2-0 in the first. The Giants scored four more in the third to go in front 6-0.
Matt Duffy had an RBI single and Gonzalez's balk allowed the second run to score. After Sandberg lifted Gonzalez, Nori Aoki singled up the middle off Dustin McGowan to score two runs.
The Phillies got four runs back in the fourth. Bumgarner had been cruising along, allowing one single, before he sandwiched a pair of singles around a hit batter to load the bases with no outs. After Darin Ruf struck out, Francoeur drove a 1-0 pitch into the seats in left field for his second career grand slam.
"It was a good pitch to go on," Francoeur said.
The Giants tacked a run on in the seventh on Bumgarner's RBI single off Elvis Araujo to make it 7-4.
And Bumgarner retired 10 of 11 batters until Blanco hit a solo homer with one out in the eighth to pull Philadelphia within two runs.
"The grand slam kind of ticked him off," Bochy said. "I think it spurred him a little."
The Phillies were able to stay close thanks to the strong relief of McGowan, who allowed two hits with three strikeouts and two walks in 3 1-3 scoreless innings. The right-hander was called up Friday to replace left-hander Jake Diekman, who was sent to Triple-A.
"He was outstanding and let us get back in the game," Sandberg said.
Aoki got three hits and drove in two runs. He raised his major league-leading road batting average to .407.
"That's good for my confidence," Aoki said through an interpreter.
Santiago Casilla pitched a scoreless ninth for his 17th save in 19 chances.
PANIK STREAKING
Joe Panik singled in the Giants' first to increase his hitting streak to 11 consecutive games.
NO BROTHERLY LOVE
Belt went 0 for 3 and is now 0 for 17 in Philadelphia. He was the lone Giants player in the starting lineup to go hitless.
GALVIS SLUMPING
Slumping Philadelphia SS Freddy Galvis went 0 for 3 and is hitless in his last 29 at-bats.
"He's just a little jumpy at home plate," Sandberg said. "He's been working at that, trying to stay back and stay short. He's been fighting that."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: OF Hunter Pence (wrist) missed his third straight game.
Phillies: Panik's first-inning single was lined off the glove and pitching hand of Gonzalez. Sandberg and thePhillies trainer came to the mound, and Gonzalez made five warmup tosses before declaring himself OK to continue.
UP NEXT
Giants: RHP Ryan Vogelsong (4-3, 4.26) starts Sunday. Against Philadelphia, Vogelsong is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in six career games, three of which were starts. However, he allowed a career-high 11 hits and three runs in three innings in his lone start against the Phillies last year.
Phillies: RHP Sean O'Sullivan (1-4, 5.03) will look to rebound after giving up 20 hits and 11 runs in 11 1-3 innings over his last two starts. He is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in two career games against the Giants.
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