Nationals RHP Tanner Roark (3-7, 3.63) faces Blue Jays

Madison Bumgarner isn’t easily impressed in pregame warmups.

Thursday night was different.

”I don’t put a lot of stock into the bullpen before the game Adidas Patrick Kane Jersey , but today I could tell that the stuff was picking up a little,” the 2014 World Series MVP said.

Bumgarner pitched eight innings of three-hit ball for his first win this season, Mark Melancon earned his first save in a year and the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 3-0.

”It was the Madison we know,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

San Francisco won for the fourth time in five games and sent the last-place Padres to their fifth straight loss.

Bumgarner (1-2) struck out eight and walked two in his best start since coming off the disabled list. He also drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly.

”It was the type of game we’ve seen so many times from him,” Bochy said. ”We needed it because their guy pitched well, too.”

Bumgarner outdueled Tyson Ross (5-5), who gave up one run and four hits in seven innings. Ross struck out three and walked three.

”This is what you want to do as a pitcher, to go toe-to-toe against a guy,” he said. ”You just have to give your team a chance to win. He was little bit better tonight.”

Bumgarner began the season on the DL with a broken pinkie on his pitching hand sustained in his final spring training start when he was hit by a line drive. The ace left-hander was 0-2 with a 4.67 ERA in three previous outings since being reinstated.

Bumgarner’s sacrifice fly scored Pablo Sandoval in the fifth. Sandoval singled leading off the inning and Joe Panik followed with a double.

It was the fourth time in his career Bumgarner made a scoreless start and had the game-winning RBI, tying Stephen Strasburg and Fernando Valenzuela for the most such games by any pitcher in the last 40 years, according to STATS.

The Padres’ best scoring chance came in the fifth, when Jose Pirela was thrown out at home trying to score from second on Manuel Margot’s one-out double to deep right field. Giants catcher Buster Posey tagged out Pirela after a perfect relay from Andrew McCutchen and Panik.

”We had one chance offensively and we ran through a stop sign, which took away that one opportunity,” Padres manager Andy Green said.

Melancon, who started the season on the DL with a right elbow flexor strain, pitched the ninth for his first save since June 20, 2017.

DROUGHT BUSTER

Bumgarner was winless in his six previous starts against the Padres. He was 0-4 with a 4.73 ERA during that stretch.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: OF Wil Myers (left oblique strain) and Maton (right lat strain) were reinstated from the 10-day DL, and RHP Colin Rea (right shoulder strain) was activated from the 60-day DL. … OF Franchy Cordero (right elbow bone spur) was transferred to the 60-day DL and RHP Phil Hughes (right rhomboid strain) was placed on the 10-day DL. … OF Franmil Reyes was optioned to Triple-A El Paso. … RHP Bryan Mitchell (right elbow impingement) had an MRI on Wednesday that showed inflammation in the affected area but no ligament damage, Green said. Mitchell is expected to start throwing in four or five days.

Giants: SS Brandon Crawford was reinstated from the paternity list and was in the starting lineup. … INF Kelby Tomlinson was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. … RHP Hunter Strickland (broken right pinkie) will have more X-rays in two weeks to determine if two pins he had surgically inserted on Wednesday can be removed. The 29-year-old reliever was injured when he punched a door in frustration after a blown save against Miami on Monday. … RHP Johnny Cueto (right elbow inflammation) will throw 40 pitches in a rehab start with Triple-A Sacramento on Saturday. … RHP Jeff Samardzija (right shoulder tightness) threw 73 pitches in his second rehab start with Sacramento.

UP NEXT

LHP Clayton Richard (6-6, 4.31 ERA) will make his team-leading 16th start for the Padres. He’s 5-2 with a 3.04 ERA over his last eight. Giants RHP Chris Stratton (8-4 Adidas Nathan MacKinnon Jersey , 4.22) hasn’t allowed a run over 13 2/3 innings in two career starts against San Diego.

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Max Scherzer had gone more than two months without a defeat. Now the Washington Nationals ace has lost consecutive starts for the first time in nearly three years.

Marco Estrada took a shutout into the seventh inning, Devon Travis homered and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Scherzer and the Nationals 2-0 on Saturday.

Scherzer (10-3) gave up four hits, including the two-run homer by Travis, in six innings. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner struck out 10, increasing his major league-leading total to 152.

Scherzer has 10 double-digit strikeout games this season, four more than any other pitcher.

Beaten by a two-run home run from San Francisco’s Brandon Crawford in his previous outing, Scherzer saw this start turn on another two-run homer, with Travis jumping on a hanging slider in the fifth.

”This is Major League Baseball,” Scherzer said. ”One pitch can cost you a game. Now I’ve had it happen twice in back-to-back starts. You can get beat like that. I’ve got to keep executing every single pitch I throw.”

Scherzer last lost two straight starts in a three-game skid in August 2015.

”He pitched really well,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. ”One mistake.”

Travis homered for the second game in a row, going deep to right after Scherzer hit Luke Maile with a pitch.

”He doesn’t make many mistakes so when he does, you’d better hope you take advantage of it,” Travis said. ”If not, it’s probably the only one you’re going to get for the day.”

Estrada (4-6) allowed three hits, one a bunt single, over 6 2/3 innings to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season.

”He’s a big-game pitcher and that’s a really tough lineup over there,” Travis said of Estrada. ”He did a fantastic job today.”

The Blue Jays posted their first shutout since Aug. 10, 2017 against the Yankees, snapping a franchise-long 117-game span between shutouts.

Trea Turner hit a two-out double in the sixth, but Estrada struck out Bryce Harper looking. An exasperated Harper was caught looking again to end the eighth Adidas Gabriel Landeskog Jersey , stranding a runner at first. Harper went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, dropping his average to .221.

”What I think I’d like for him to do is maybe not swing so much,” Martinez said. ”He’s been swinging a lot, and I really think now is the time to take less swings and just go play.”

Washington has been blanked three times in five games, including Scherzer’s 2-0 loss to San Francisco on June 10 and a 3-0 road loss to the Yankees on June 12.

”It’s surprising but it happens,” Martinez said. ”Sometimes you run into good pitchers.”

Estrada left after Michael A. Taylor’s two-out single put runners at first and second in the seventh. Danny Barnes came on and needed two pitches to retire Wilmer Difo on a groundout.

Barnes and Aaron Loup each got two outs and former Nationals closer Tyler Clippard finished the three-hitter for his third save in six opportunities.

SWEET DREAMS

Travis said it can be tough to get a good night’s rest when Scherzer is scheduled to pitch the following day.

”He’s a guy when you go to sleep at night, you know you’re facing Max Scherzer the next day and your heart starts to beat a little bit already,” Travis said. ”You know you’re up for a big challenge. He’s the best in the game.”

SEEN YOU BEFORE

Travis was drafted by Detroit, where Scherzer played from 2010 to 2014. During his first spring training with the Tigers, Travis faced Scherzer multiple times during intrasquad games.

RARE FEAT

Scherzer hadn’t given up a homer to a right-handed batter since Giancarlo Stanton connected for Miami on Aug. 7, 2017.

HOME COOKING

Toronto has won six straight at home after losing 10 of its previous 11 at Rogers Centre.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: 1B Matt Adams was out of the lineup one day after taking a pitch off his left hand while attempting to bunt. X-rays Friday were inconclusive because of swelling, so Adams will have another X-ray when the Nationals return home Monday. With Adams unavailable, Daniel Murphy started at first, his first defensive action since returning from knee surgery Tuesday.

UP NEXT

Nationals RHP Tanner Roark (3-7, 3.63) faces Blue Jays RHP Sam Gaviglio (2-2, 3.66) in Sunday’s series finale. Roark has won just once in his past seven starts. Gaviglio allowed a season-worst five earned runs in Monday’s loss at Tampa Bay, his second straight losing decision.

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