San Francisco, CA – A grand slam, five runs in one inning capped off by Madison Bumgarner and Jacob deGrom pitched the worst game of his career. This is the best way to describe the first of four games in this Giants vs Mets series. A scoreless tie through three fames while neither pitcher made it past the fifth inning. The Giants however had on of their best offensive games of the season, which led to their 10-7 victory over the New York Mets. 

“I didn’t see that kind of game coming. I don’t think anybody did,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “There were two good ones out there, they just weren’t on top of their games.”

Justin Ruggiano hit his first home run of the year and it happened to be a grand slam. Jacob deGrom gave up five runs in the fourth and gave San Francisco the lead that they kept throughout the game. After giving up a grand slam, Bumgarner felt vindicated after blasting a two-run homer of his own. But it wasn’t about individual heroics tonight, the Giants collectively soared on offense with a barrage of hits

San Francisco had a opportunity in the second frame to get on the board. Brandon Crawford led off the inning with a single. Hunter Pence hit into a double play and Eduardo Nunez singled on a line drive thinking he could turn it into a double but left fielder Ty Kelly’s arm beat out Nunez speed. Kelly’s throw to second baseman T.J. Rivera was the final out of the frame.

By the fourth it was Bumgarner who got himself in jam loading the bases with a single and two walks. Rivera led off the inning with a single and Bumgarner then gave up back-to-back free passes to both Wilmer Flores and Travis d’Arnaud. Ruggiano stayed patient at the plate and then took Bumgarner deep for a grand slam making it a 4-0 game.

Ruggiano recorded his first home run of the season, while going 3-for-5 with his second career grand slam. He was activated early today from the disabled list. Ruggiano signed with New York on July 30 and went 1-for-6 in three games before suffering a strained left hamstring. He is one of only four batters to have hit three or more career home runs off Bumgarner (others: Carlos Gonzalez, Chase Headley and Kiki Hernandez).

The Giants did a good job of shaking up deGrom bottom of the frame. He surrendered five hits putting San Francisco back in the game. Buster Posey led off the inning with a single. Both Crawford and Pence hit back-to-back singles scoring in Posey making it a 4-1 game. Nunez got another chance to make up for his second inning “flub” and cleared the bases with a RBI triple adding on two more runs.

Bumgarner who tried to convince Bochy to enlist him in the 2016 Home Run Derby. Tonight, he made good on why he should’ve been added to the roster of power hitters. He blasted a two-run homer to right field to give San Francisco the 5-4 lead for the first time tonight. The Giants changed the momentum of the game while Bumgarner recorded his third home run of the season.

“With the RBI situations I’ve had the last few games, I just wanted to shorten up and try to make contact, see if I could get those runs in,” Bumgarner said.

San Francisco drove in three more runs in the fifth. Crawford with his third hit of the game followed by Pence who singled putting two on in the corners with two outs. Nunez with is second hit of the night scored in Crawford to extend the Giants lead 6-4. Joe Panik who has struggled at the plate doubled and drove in both Pence and Nunez making it a 8-4 game.

The bullpen took over in the sixth ending Bumgarner’s night on the mound. The southpaw’s pitch count had gotten too high with 89 pitches and 57 strikes. He tossed a solid five frames, allowing six hits, four runs, three walks, one home run and six strikeouts. Despite a short night, Bumgarner got a much needed win for San Francisco and snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak vs the Mets.

Corey Gearrin replaced Bumgarner and gave up two singles to d’Arnuad who led off the sixth and Ruggiano. Will Smith replaced Gearrin and yielded a RBI triple to Kelly who drove in both d’Arnaud and Ruggiano. Pinch-hitter Rene Rivera grounded out and scored in Kelly cutting the Giants lead to one. Jose Reyes knocked a single to left field putting the tying run on first. But a fly ball to left field by T.J. Rivera ended the threat.

The hits kept coming and that’s been very rare for San Francisco lately. deGrom gave up thirteen hits and eight runs setting a career-high before his exit after the fifth. He scattered 13 hits over five frames allowing eight runs, one walk and five strikeouts. Not deGrom’s best outing especially since he allowed five runs in a single inning for the first time in his career (previous high was four runs allowed in a single frame).

The Giants added their insurance runs in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Conor Gillaspie led off the inning with a walk. Denard Span out on a sacrifice fly moved Gillaspie to second. Angel Pagan got on base with a walk and extended his hitting streak to 16 games. After two pitching changes for New York, Posey doubled on a fly ball and drove in Gillaspie and Pagan making it a 10-7 game.

“We took a pretty good punch there,” said Bochy. “I thought it was important to punch back, and of course, Bum, just trying to get a run in, hits a home run. Just a great job by these guys fighting back against a very, very tough pitcher. The guys really broke out.”

Notes – IF Cory Gearrin (#62) has been activated from the 15-day disabled list (strained right shoulder). He made eight rehab appearances with triple-A Sacramento and allowed one run on five hits in 8.0 innings of work. Gearrin struck out nine while allowing four walks. He was placed on the 15-day DL on July 6 with a shoulder strain and appeared in 41 games for the Giants and has posted a 3.89 ERA (16er, 37.0ip).

Matt Cain (#18) has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a low back strain.

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