San Francisco Giants lose to San Diego Padres 3–2 in extra innings

Jun 23, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy (15) takes the ball from starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) after he was removed from the game during the eighth inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, our award winning broadcast duo, have a word for it. If a hitter can’t get a hit against a certain pitcher, or if  pitcher has trouble getting a particular player out, they call it ownage. The Giants were facing San Diego Padres pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne Tuesday night, and he had ownage on the Giants. All of them.

As always, I didn’t make a prediction about the outcome of the game, but I liked our chances. I liked our chances even better when I heard Nori Aoki was in the lineup, leading off.

The night ended with some good news and some bad news. And unfortunately, some terrible news.

First, the good news. The first few innings of the game was a full-scale pitching duel with Madison Bumgarner in the lead. He was perfect through four. He didn’t give up a hit until the fifth, but he got himself out of that jam.

Before the night was over he’d struck out 14 Padres, an amazing accomplishment.  In fact Bumgarner pitched a great game: he went seven and a third innings, he gave up two runs on five hits and one walk. 14 strike outs is a career record for Bumgarner.

Bumgarner’s stellar outing gave the Giants exactly what they needed to get to the Padres starter. In the four previous games the Giants faced Despaigne, they scored only one run. In this outing he gave up two runs on five hits and two walks.

Matt Duffy led off the fifth inning with a double and scored when Gregor Blanco hit a little blooper between the plate and the mound—Despaigne couldn’t get a grip on the ball, which gave Duffy time to scramble from third, and Blanco to land safely at first. Blanco scored on Joe Panik’s two out double. That was enough to send Despaigne packing, and relinquish ownage.

That was the good news. The bad news? It wasn’t enough. Not even with extra innings.  The Padres scored two runs off Bumgarner in the eighth and another off Hunter Strickland in the 11th inning. The Giants didn’t score again. The final score was: Giants 2, Padres 3

Now for the terrible news: I was excited, thrilled even, to see Nori Aoki in the lineup, because it meant that the injury he suffered after being hit by a pitch Saturday in LA wasn’t serious. But it was serious.

Aoki was scratched just before the game started because he limped away from batting practice in pain. He was taken for x-rays, diagnosed with a fractured fibula and will be out for awhile. He was placed on the 15–day DL.

Do I still like our chances? Of course I do. Aoki will be back, Hunter Pence will return. And the Giants offense will get a much-needed spark, because together #WeAreGiant.