San Diego Padres: A Familiar Foe In Madison Bumgarner

The San Diego Padres begin a four-game set against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, as they look to rebound.

Well, things have escalated pretty quickly, huh? A weeks ago, fans were looking at the National League West standings with a little optimism. The San Diego Padres are now 1-5 over their last six games and have been outscored 28-18, including a 12-4 shellacking at the hands of the Oakland Athletics.

While winning five-straight series was fun to watch, none of those wins came against NL West opponents. The Padres current record against their division rivals, 13-18. If San Diego wants to prove they can compete, they should probably start winning games against the teams they play the most.

Thursday night, San Diego travels to San Francisco for a four-game set, pitting ace versus ace in game one. Madison Bumgarner makes his 31st career start against the Padres tonight, a team he has had a lot of success against.

First, a few notes about this Padres/Giants series history. Since the team’s inception, the Padres have played the Giants 840 times, posting a 394-446 all-time record. They have played just one team more often, playing 848 games against the Dodgers. While San Diego has a winning record against the Giants at home (214-209), the Padres are 180-237 on the road against the Giants.

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As for the Padres history vs Madison Bumgarner, San Diego has had recent success against the Giants’ ace. The Giants are just 4-6 against the Padres when Bumgarner gets the start, including an 0-3 record last year. In three starts last season, Bumgarner surrendered 16 hits and nine runs. Since pitching a one-hit shutout against San Diego on September 12, 2015, Bumgarner is 2-4, failing to record a victory in over two years.

While the historical numbers are fun to look at, it wasn’t this roster that Bumgarner has faced in previous starts. Unfortunately, glancing over the current roster and their success rate against Mad Bum, a currently sputtering San Diego offense will have to overcome a history of subpar performances.

Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers (returns this weekend), Freddy Galvis, and Manuel Margot are a combined 11-75 (.147 average) with 18 strikeouts.

The best success rates? Hunter Renfroe is 5-10 against Bumgarner, with two doubles and two home runs. He has struck out just once in 10 at-bats against him, surprisingly. Believe it or not, Matt Szczur is the only other hitter with much success in this situation. Of course, Szczur isn’t going to see the field, however, he has a .353 OBP against Bumgarner in 17 plate appearances.

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First pitch for tonight’s contest is set for 7:15 pm as the Padres send Tyson Ross to the hill to take on Bumgarner and the Giants.