MLB Game Preview - San Francisco at Colorado

Sat Aug 3, 2019 8:10 PM EDT

In late June, Madison Bumgarner was one of MLB's players most rumored to be traded. The San Francisco Giants were 35-47 on June 29 and far behind in the playoff race, so when the calendar flipped to July, the Giants were viewed as sellers.

Things changed in a hurry. San Francisco then won 20 of its next 26 games through the end of July to vault into second place in the NL West and in the thick of the wild-card race. Keeping Bumgarner was a no-brainer considering a playoff spot was a realistic possibility.

The Colorado Rockies probably wish he had been dealt. Instead, they have to face him when the teams meet in Denver for the second of a three-game series on Saturday night.

Colorado won the opener 5-4 on Friday but lost outfielder David Dahl to a right ankle injury. Manager Bud Black said after the game that the injury "looks like an ankle sprain."

"More diagnostic tests (Saturday)," Black added. "He turned the ankle. We'll see exactly how this looks (Saturday), but it looks like it could be an injured list."

Black said Dahl, who earned his first All-Star appearance this season, had an X-ray and confirmed it was negative for a break.

Bumgarner (6-7, 3.74 ERA) will match up against Colorado right-hander Jon Gray (10-7, 3.88), who has been the Rockies' most consistent pitcher of late but has struggled against the Giants in his career. In nine games, all starts, he is 1-4 with a 5.08 ERA.

Bumgarner has had plenty of success against Colorado in his career. In 33 starts he is 16-8 with a 3.07 ERA. Almost half of those starts, 16, have come at Coors Field where he is 6-6 with a 4.33 ERA.

The MVP of the 2014 World Series, Bumgarner said he didn't think he was going to be dealt before Wednesday afternoon's 2 p.m. trade deadline, nor did he let it become a distraction.

"I never expected to be somewhere else," he told reporters. "So, like I said, nothing has changed for me. I feel like I did a good job not letting that creep into my head, and that's it. So, no it didn't. I've seen it before where stuff comes up last minute. So you never know, but in the end I've got a job to do."

That job continues against a Colorado team that the Giants swept in Denver two weeks ago. Those four wins helped turn the Rockies from possible buyers for a playoff push to just making a couple of minor deals and not touching anyone on their 25-man roster.

One thing did change, though. Reliever Wade Davis, who imploded in the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, was removed from the closer role. Davis allowed five runs and two homers in what was a scoreless game.

It was another poor performance at home, where he has an 11.29 ERA this season.

"We've talked about this -- Wade and I, and the pitching coaches -- to try to identify it," Black told reporters before Friday's game. "It's a little bit perplexing. It just might be one of those years. But the thing that stands out for me is that the walk totals, both home and road, are a little high. And we've addressed that with Wade, and Wade can't come up with an answer, either, why that's happening."

Scott Oberg is the closer for the time being and earned his fourth save in Friday's win.

--Field Level Media