Giants at Dodgers
Tension likely will be in the air when Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants visit the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday for the finale of their four-game series. Bumgarner verbally chastised Max Muncy 11 days ago in San Francisco after the Dodgers infielder was slow to begin jogging around the bases after homering into McCovey Cove.
Muncy issued a now-famous retort, stating that he told Bumgarner to "go get it out of the ocean," which figures to make their matchups on Thursday a bit frosty. Bumgarner also hasn't beaten the Dodgers since late in the 2017 season, going 0-3 over his last six opportunities. Meanwhile, Los Angeles has outscored San Francisco 18-2 while winning the last two meetings, with Wednesday's 9-2 victory being its major league-best 50th win of the season. Chris Taylor homered twice and Cody Bellinger belted his 24th shot of the season on Wednesday to send the Giants to their second straight loss following a stretch during which they won five of six.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco), SportsNet LA (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants LH Madison Bumgarner (3-6, 3.87 ERA) vs. Dodgers LH Julio Urias (3-2, 3.05)
Bumgarner has gone 0-2 over his last five starts, with his last victory coming against Arizona on May 18. The 29-year-old, who is 15-13 with a 2.92 ERA in 35 career appearances (34 starts) versus Los Angeles, proclaimed prior to Wednesday's game that what happened with Muncy in their previous meeting won't be an issue in the rematch. "No matter how frustrated you get, you’ve got to wash it before you go to the next pitch,” Bumgarner told reporters. “Sometimes you might see me walk back behind the mound and take a couple of extra seconds just to make sure I do that.”
Urias is making his fifth start of the season - and first since April 18 - as the Dodgers need an extra starter after pushing back both Walker Buehler and Kenta Maeda. The 22-year-old Urias scattered three hits over five scoreless innings in a no-decision against the Giants on April 1 and is 0-2 with a 1.63 ERA in nine career appearances (four starts) versus the club. Urias has registered 41 strikeouts in 41 1/3 frames and has fanned 143 batters over 145 2/3 frames in his career.
WALK-OFFS
1. Dodgers rookie OF Kyle Garlick belted his first career homer in Wednesday's game.
2. Giants INF Pablo Sandoval (pinkie) grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning on Wednesday after getting four stitches due to his hand being spiked two nights earlier.
3. Los Angeles LHP Rich Hill (forearm) departed Wednesday's contest after throwing two warmup pitches prior to the second inning.