NL Best of the Night: Madison Bumgarner Does It All in Giants' Win over Astros

On most nights, racking up 12 strikeouts would be enough for any pitcher to earn our "Best of the Night" honors. But Madison Bumgarner did just a bit more than that in the San Francisco Giants' 6-3 win over the Houston Astros.

Bumgarner was outstanding on the mound Tuesday night, holding the Astros to one earned run and six hits over 7.2 innings. Of course, there were also those 12 strikeouts, a season-high total for the left-hander.

However, Bumgarner put on a two-way show for the fans at AT&T Park, showing he can swing a big stick at the plate as well.

With the Astros holding a 1-0 lead, Bud Norris apparently thought he could sneak a waist-high fastball past Bumgarner to lead off the Giants' half of the third inning. It wasn't like Bumgarner was going to hit a home run. He'd never done so in his 154 major league plate appearances. 

Well... so much for that. Bumgarner crushed the ball deep into the left-field seats. This was no cheapie or wall-scraper. Bumgarner went five or six rows past the fence, the kind of shot that the big boys crank out of the ballpark. 

Watch video of Bumgarner's homer here.

Bumgarner's victory gave him eight for the season, tying him for the second-highest total in the National League. But let's get back to that home run.

(I'm allowed to be fascinated by Bumgarner hitting right-handed while pitching left-handed, right? I know plenty of guys do it at all levels of baseball. But that kind of dexterity is so impressive to me, a right-hander who can seemingly do so little with his left hand.)

The Giants had gone 16 games without hitting a homer at AT&T Park. As Giants Nirvana points out, that's the longest streak the team had gone through since 1918. 

According to the Mercury News' Alex Pavlovic, Giants manager Bruce Bochy joked before Tuesday's game about who might finally break through and take one out of the park. Give Bochy credit for not going with a safer pick like Buster Posey or Pablo Sandoval. He predicted Gregor Blanco—who'd only hit one home run at home and has five homers for his career—would be the one to end the streak. 

Actual events turned out even funnier than that, with Bumgarner being the guy who put one in the seats. Breaking the seal apparently inspired his teammates, as Brandon Belt added another home run in the eighth inning. For the Giants, that's a virtual barrage of power. 

Apparently, Bumgarner usually puts on a show during batting practice. Bochy even told the Chronicle's Henry Schulman that the left-hander has "incredible power." So it was a bit curious that he never showed off that strength in an actual ballgame. Well, those questions no longer need to be asked. 

Bumgarner was later asked if he was the best home run threat among the Giants' five starting pitchers. 

“Zito’s got some pretty good pop,” Bumgarner said (via the Chronicle). “That’d be the only competition, really.”

Barry Zito has zero career home runs. Bochy obviously isn't the only guy who likes to make jokes to reporters covering the Giants. 

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