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Giants rely on Bumgarner in finale against Dodgers

Apr 17, 2014 - 2:37 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Francisco Giants have seen how capable Madison Bumgarner is on the mound, but he was a pleasant surprise last week with his bat.

Having scored just five runs over the first two contests of this three-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Giants could use another dual effort from the left-hander in Thursday afternoon's finale.

Bumgarner has won consecutive starts after beginning the season with a no- decision in Arizona. He followed that outing by beating the Dodgers 7-2 on April 5, striking out 10 over 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball, improving to 9-3 with a 2.60 earned run average in his career versus Los Angeles.

The 24-year-old wasn't as good on the mound last time out, yielding four runs, nine hits and two walks over six innings versus Colorado on Friday. However, Bumgarner did strike out seven and followed up a third-inning sacrifice fly with a fourth-inning grand slam to key a 6-5 win.

"That's quite a night, five (RBI)," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "He wasn't quite as sharp (as usual), and he found a way to win the game."

The Dodgers counter with left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA through four starts, three of those scoreless efforts.

However, the lone outing in which Ryu yielded runs came on April 4 versus the visiting Giants. He was tagged for eight runs -- six earned -- on eight hits and three walks over just two innings of an 8-4 defeat.

"(Ryu) gave up some hits, but we didn't help him much," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

Ryu, who fell to 2-3 with a 3.89 ERA in six games versus the Giants, rebounded to beat Arizona last Friday. The 27-year-old scattered two hits and a walk over seven innings, striking out eight and combining with reliever Jamey Wright on a 6-0 shutout.

The Dodgers have gotten solid efforts on the mound in the first two games of this set from Josh Beckett and Paul Maholm, but have only managed three runs in losing both contests.

Los Angeles got some more bad news in last night's 2-1 loss as shortstop Hanley Ramirez had to exit the game in the seventh inning after getting hit on the left hand by a Ryan Vogelsong pitch.

The Dodgers dodged a major blow when X-rays came back negative and Ramirez said he will try to play in today's finale.

"X-rays were negative and if I'm good tomorrow, I'll be in there," said Ramirez on Los Angeles' website. "Now I'll have to see how I feel tomorrow morning. I'll get here early for treatment and if I can go, I'll do everything I can to be in there."

Maholm scored the Dodgers' only run on Dee Gordon's triple as Vogelsong logged a solid six-plus innings of work. He still walked away with this third no- decision in as many games as San Francisco did not go ahead until Pablo Sandoval's RBI single in the seventh.

"I think more than anything he just stayed consistent with his delivery from the first inning," said Bochy of his starter. "A well-pitched game. He pounded the strike zone and going into the seventh inning he had a good pitch count."

Buster Posey also had an RBI single for the Giants, who won the opener of the three-game series 3-2 on Tuesday on Hector Sanchez's RBI single in the 12th inning.

The Giants have won three straight and four of their last five, while the Dodgers have followed up a three-game sweep of Arizona with the two losses.

San Francisco won two of three in Los Angeles from April 4-6 and have claimed nine of the last 11 encounters overall.