SAN FRANCISCO — Left-hander Madison Bumgarner will aim to repeat his Game 1 dominance when he starts for the Giants in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday, hoping to pitch San Francisco into the World Series.
However, a lot has changed in the five days since the shutout effort.
The biggest difference: the site.
When Bumgarner limited the Cardinals to four hits over 7 2/3 scoreless innings in St. Louis on Saturday, it continued his remarkable run of road success this season. He went 11-4 with a 2.22 ERA away from home in the regular season, then pitched a shutout at Pittsburgh in the NL wild-card game.
However, Bumgarner hasn’t been nearly as sharp at AT&T Park in San Francisco. He took the loss in the Giants’ only setback in the NL Division Series against Washington at home, committing a crucial throwing error. In the regular season, he went just 7-6 with a 4.03 ERA in San Francisco.
Now he takes the mound at home with the Giants one win from a World Series matchup with the Kansas City Royals. San Francisco leads the NLCS three games to one after a 6-4 win Wednesday.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy had a chance to assure Bumgarner would pitch only road games in the NLCS by holding him back for Game 2 in St. Louis. That would have put him in line to pitch Game 6, if necessary, also in St. Louis.
Bochy chose to go immediately with his ace, but then he watched as the Giants lost Game 2 in St. Louis with right-hander Jake Peavy on the mound. Peavy is slated to make the Game 6 start in St. Louis should the series extend that far.
Bumgarner will be matched up with Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright, who wasn’t himself in a Game 1 loss to San Francisco. The right-hander gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.