What's left? Having faced long list of elite southpaws, more await Braves out west
ATLANTA -- With a World Series MVP, three rings and three All-Star Game appearances, few pitchers can match Madison Bumgarner's resume. But for the Braves, the Giants ace was just the latest.
The latest in elite left-handed pitchers they've had to face, that is.
Chase d'Arnaud notched a pair of singles and Freddie Freeman added a ground-rule double, but the Braves would manage just four hits in all against Bumgarner in falling 6-0 Thursday.
"Not much to get going off of him," Freeman said. "He's one of the best pitchers in the game for a reason and he definitely showed that today."
Bumgarner threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out 11 with two walks, delivering one of the most dominant outings the Braves have seen out of an impressive list of southpaws.
Entering the series finale against the Giants tied for fifth in wins above replacement among lefty starters (1.9), Bumgarner marked the 13th player within the top 32 on that list (per Baseball-Reference) that Atlanta has faced.
He's also the fourth within the top 10, coming after the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw (first at 3.5), Cubs' Jon Lester (fifth at 1.9) and Mets' Steven Matz (tied for eighth at 1.7), who has made two starts vs. the Braves. That doesn't include the Red Sox's David Price, who is 30th in WAR (0.1), but allowed only two runs and fanned 14 over eight innings on April 26.
"These guys are also the best pitchers in the game," said Kelly Johnson, who went 0-1 as a pinch hitter but is hitting .313 on the season vs. lefties. "That's just the way the game is, I think that's just coincidence (that they're left-handers). Kershaw, David Price, Bumgarner, Matz, and on and on, guys are getting better and better and these lefties are just bringing it. ... They're tough for everybody."
But coincidence hasn't been the Braves' ally.
Only the Giants have seen more lefties in the top 10 with five in Kershaw, Lester, Matz, the Padres' Drew Pomeranz (seventh at 1.8) and the Blue Jays' J.A. Happ (tied for eighth), and played eight games against them.
With Thursday's loss the Braves have gone winless in five outings against those aforementioned top-tier arms -- and are 5-5 vs. all other lefty starters -- but even in defeat, Atlanta has had its moments hitting the game's top southpaws.
Ranked 21st overall against lefties with a collective .237 average, the Braves had a 10-hit day against Kershaw on April 21, seven vs. Lester April 29 and nine against Matz on April 23.
The problem, of course, is what has been an issue for the Braves all season long: scoring runs. Sitting 29th in the majors (3.19), they only got to Kershaw and Lester for one run each and managed two against Matz in that outing (he allowed only two hits in 7 2/3 scoreless innings when they met again May 4).
Those same issues played themselves out when they threatened with Bumgarner on the mound.
D'Arnaud laced a one-out single to left field in the opening inning, which Freeman followed by bouncing a double over the right-center field wall. But Bumgarner -- after falling behind 3-1 -- struck out Jeff Francoeur with a 91-mph fastball and then fanned Adonis Garcia on an 87-mph slider to end the inning.
After getting just a Tyler Flowers walk in the fourth and a Daniel Castro single in the seventh after that first inning, the Braves threatened in the eighth, but came up empty again.
Ender Inciarte reached on a fielder's choice, the moved to second on a wild pitch by Bumgarner that would be be described as Ricky Vaughn-esque, before d'Arnaud took advantage of a Brandon Crawford error to give the Braves two on with one out.
Freeman lined out, pushing Inciarte to third, and while that would end Bumgarner's day, they couldn't charge any runs to the Giants starter as Francoeur grounded out against righty Hunter Strickland.
With a games score of 80, Bumgarner statistically had only the second-best outing of those top-tier pitchers against Atlanta, following Matz's 83 on May 4.
"Those guys have a way of elevating their game," said Braves interim manager Brian Snitker of Bumgarner. "I like who we had had up there and how the deck was stacked. It just didn't work out."
Francoeur had been the Braves' biggest asset against lefties, hitting .348/.343/.478, and had produced five extra-base hits and 11 RBI, but he'd go 0 for 3 vs. Bumgarner with three Ks.
D'Arnaud, though, continued to prove a bright spot as he improved to 14 for 39 (.358) vs. left-handed pitchers and reached base three times in his first dealings with the Giants' ace.
"I've heard all about his stuff from teammates that I've had," d'Arnaud said. "(Hitting coach Kevin) Seitzer gave me a pretty good scouting report and I just committed a certain approach that worked out today. I tried to keep it really simple."
The Braves are scheduled to add two more matchups against elite lefties in the upcoming West Coast road trip, facing off against Kershaw again on Saturday and then Pomeranz in next Wednesday's finale in San Diego.
But with the Dodgers also slated to throw Scott Kazmir and the Padres set to open with Christian Friedrich, that marks four lefties in the next six games for Atlanta to contend with.
"It's not going to get any easier for us on this road trip," Freeman said. "We're in the big leagues. Everybody's good. We're going to have to start getting some hits against some tough lefties and hopefully that will happen on this road trip."
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney and Facebook. His book, 'Tales from the Atlanta Braves Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Braves Stories Ever Told,' is out now, and 'The Heisman Trophy: The Story of an American Icon and Its Winners' will be released Nov. 1, 2016.
