In a battle of pitchers hitting, Madison Bumgarner appeared as a pinch-hitter
Putting the 'NL' back into the NLDS, the Cubs and Giants conspired to make the Cubs' Saturday's Game 2 a smorgasbord of pitchers hitting.
That meant there was no other choice but for Bruce Bochy to counter by bringing in Bumgarner, that supreme crusher of baseballs, to pinch-hit in the top of the fifth inning. Having already pinch-hit and batted in an AL ballpark earlier this year, this was old news for the starter-turned-slugger. On the second pitch, Bumgarner ripped a ground ball to third base. A certain out? Ah, but you forget, this at-bat featured pitcher-hitting magic.
While Bumgarner has now racked up 11 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter in his career, he's got a ways to go if he wants to catch Red Lucas. The pitcher who led the league in complete games three separate times also has the record for most pinch-hit appearances as a pitcher, with an astonishing 437.
Tune in to watch the Giants take on the Cubs in Game 3 of the NLDS on Monday at 9:30 pm ET on FS1.