Apr 20, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zack Greinke (21) throws to the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of their MLB baseball game at AT&T Park. Photo Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — Zack Greinke admitted Wednesday night he hadn’t been at his best in his first three starts for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
It’s no surprise that seeing the San Francisco Giants would change all that.
Catcher Welington Castillo broke a scoreless tie with a two-run, seventh-inning home run off Madison Bumgarner, helping Greinke record an eighth straight victory over the Giants, a 2-1 Arizona win.
In winning for the ninth time in their last 10 meetings with the Giants, the Diamondbacks assured themselves of a winning record on their 10-game trip with a sixth win in their first nine games.
“Both pitchers were spot-on,” Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said. “I thought it might go 20 innings there for a while.”
Greinke and Bumgarner had dueling shutouts until the Diamondbacks finally broke through on Castillo’s third homer of the season in the seventh inning. The hit also scored Yasmani Tomas, who had opened the inning with a single, just the fourth hit to that point against Bumgarner.
The blast to left field was Castillo’s second career homer against the Giants’ ace.
“It took one pitch that Bumgarner left in the zone for us to hit,” Hale noted, “and Welington did a nice job.”
The Giants cut the deficit in half and ended Greinke’s night in the bottom of the inning when Angel Pagan’s two-out single scored Gregor Blanco, who had tripled.
Then, despite the fact his $206 million ace was on the mound, Hale summoned left-hander Andrew Chafin to face left-handed-hitting Denard Span. The strategy worked, Chafin striking out Span to retain the lead.
“We’re very confident in Andrew to get lefties out,” Hale said. “Greinke probably could have gotten out of that inning, but we had our lefty ready then, so we went to him.”
Right-handers Tyler Clippard and Brad Ziegler took it the rest of the way. Clippard pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, his seventh straight scoreless inning to open the season, before Ziegler recorded his fourth save despite allowing a one-out double to Matt Duffy.
The shutout inning was Ziegler’s 22nd straight against San Francisco, the most ever recorded against the Giants.
“They’ve been pretty solid the whole season,” Greinke said of the Arizona bullpen. “When we’ve done close to what we’re supposed to do (as starting pitchers), they’ve been perfect pretty much.”
Greinke (1-2) ran his lifetime record to 8-0 against the Giants, allowing just the one run on six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked one.
He also improved to 3-0 in lifetime head-to-heads with Bumgarner.
Bumgarner (1-2), who lost all three matchups with the Diamondbacks last season while getting a total of three runs of offensive support, dropped his second straight decision to a former Cy Young Award winner. He was outpitched by Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in his previous outing.
Bumgarner, who carried a no-hitter two outs into the fourth inning, allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings. He struck out eight and walked one.
“I felt pretty good about the pitch I made to Castillo,” Bumgarner said. “I was more upset about the pitch before that that put Tomas on.”
Brandon Drury had two of Arizona’s seven hits.
The Diamondbacks (8-8), who have passed the Giants (7-9) in the standings, go for a four-game road sweep Thursday afternoon with right-hander Shelby Miller facing San Francisco’s unbeaten Johnny Cueto.
Duffy, who had two doubles, and Blanco recorded two hits apiece for the Giants, who have lost four in a row and seven of eight.
The Giants, who had three doubles and a triple among their seven hits, went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. They’re now 3-for-30 under those circumstances during their four-game losing streak.
“We are in a tough rut, but you’re going to go through this, I don’t care who you are,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy assessed. “We got a great pitching effort today. We’re just missing some timely hits. These things go in streaks. This is a tough one.”
NOTES: Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke improved his ERA to 2.12 in his 11 career starts against the Giants. … Arizona’s starting pitchers have posted a 1.71 ERA in their last 13 outings at AT&T Park. … Having gone up against Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw in his two previous outings, Giants LHP Madison Bumgarmer became the first pitcher ever to duel Greinke and Kershaw in three consecutive starts. … The last pitcher to draw three former Cy Young Award winners in a row was Milwaukee Brewers RHP Jimmy Nelson, who saw RHP Tim Lincecum, Kershaw, Greinke and RHP R.A. Dickey in four straight starts in 2014. … Bumgarner fell to 6-8 in 17 career starts against former Cy Young winners.
