The San Francisco Giants have lost their last six games to the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies, but they'll send ace Madison Bumgarner to the mound to face Archie Bradley of the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at 10:15 p.m. ET.
Bumgarner defeated Arizona on the road in his first start of the season and surrendered just one earned run on six hits and one walk over seven innings of work. However, he was knocked around on Friday against the Padres and was charged with five earned runs on 10 hits in just three innings.
The left-hander has dominated the Diamondbacks over the course of his six-year career, going 7-4 with a 2.61 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in 19 games (18 starts), totaling 113 2/3 innings. But perhaps it may not matter how well Bumgarner pitches.
San Francisco has scored just 11 runs in their past seven games, during which they have gone 1-6. They were just swept by the Colorado at home and scored three runs in those three contests against a Rockies starting rotation many believe could be the least experienced in all of baseball.
Diamondbacks starter Archie Bradley is surely inexperienced at the major league level, but that doesn't mean he hasn't risen to the challenge. The right-hander defeated Los Angeles Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw in his MLB debut last week and tossed six scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit, four walks and struck out six en route to a 6-0 victory.
But since that game Arizona has dropped three of their last four, including two straight losses on the road to San Diego. Bradley has perhaps been the lone bright spot of the D-Backs rotation thus far because the starters are a combined 3-4 with a 5.33 ERA (26th in MLB) and 1.65 WHIP (last in MLB). Their 2.22 strikeout-to-walk ratio is also ranked 20th in the league.
Bradley will get another tough draw tonight against Bumgarner at AT&T Park, but he'll at least face an anemic Giants' offense that ranks 25th in runs scored (26) through their first 10 games. Meanwhile, Bumgarner will go up against a new and improved Diamondbacks lineup that has knocked around Kershaw and Andrew Cashner this season
This will be the first of a four-game set in San Francisco. The Giants hope to revive their offense while Arizona looks to help settle down their erratic starting rotation.
Check out the live stream for tonight's matchup here as well as the live radio broadcast here (if you're a Giants fan) or here (if you're a Diamondbacks fan).
