This weekend's Dodgers-Giants series has enough storylines to last the month of April.
There's Ross Stripling's debut and near no-hitter. There's Trevor Brown's first career homer, which actually spoiled said no-hitter against the Dodgers bullpen. There's the fallout from Dave Roberts' decision to pull Ross Stripling with a no-hitter. There's Brandon Crawford's walkoff home run to end Friday's game. Oh, and the Giants signed Brandon Belt to an extension.
Got all that?
Good. Now we can move on to Saturday, where Madison Bumgarner continued his own unlikely storyline at the expense of Clayton Kershaw.
For the second straight season the two aces met at AT&T Park in San Francisco. And for the second straight season, Bumgarner turned on a Kershaw pitch and sent it into the left-field stands for a home run.
When Bumgarner homers, it's not a big surprise. He's done that 12 times now during his MLB career, which ties him with Yovani Gallardo for the most among active pitchers. That he's done so twice against Kershaw though is not only a surprise, it's almost unthinkable.
For starters, Bumgarner is the only pitcher to ever homer against Kershaw. That includes past and present pitchers. Beyond that, only ten other active players, including Bumgarner's teammate Buster Posey, can say they've homered more than once against Kershaw. The list expands to 17 players when you include inactive players.
Needless to say, Kershaw wasn't expecting that outcome when he released the fateful pitch during Saturday's second inning. Even more obvious, the outcome was not to his enjoyment.
If you can't read lips, you'll have to ask a friend. We can't help you there.
As for the outcome of Saturday's game. Bumgarner fired the first shot, but the Dodgers ended up getting last laugh with a 3-2 victory in ten innings. That means Kershaw is a much happier man than Bumgarner right now, but both will remember Saturday's home run for a long time to come.
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