OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Bruce Bochy all but had his mind made up days ago: Madison Bumgarner would hit in an AL ballpark for interleague rather than using a designated hitter.
All the San Francisco Giants manager had to do was ask the ace pitcher himself, knowing full well the big left-hander would want to swing the bat. At first, MadBum thought Bochy was joking, then quickly said: “No, I’d love to. I’d rather hit.”
Bumgarner was in the lineup batting ninth for the finale of a four-game Bay Bridge Series against lefty Dillon Overton and the Oakland Athletics on Thursday night as San Francisco tried to avoid a sweep.
“This wasn’t a tough call for me, the way he swings the bat, the numbers, facing a left-hander,” Bochy said. “All of these things came into play. It’s nothing against our guys, but he’s a pretty good hitter and it’s a pretty good matchup. … It keeps him in the game, the flow of his normal game being in the National League. He was all for it. And he would have been fine the other way. He didn’t come to me, he didn’t push for it. I went to him and said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about letting you hit for yourself and not use the DH.'”
It will be the first time a team intentionally used a pitcher to hit instead of a DH since the Chicago White Sox allowed Ken Brett to do it in 1976 – the Rays were forced to bat pitcher Andy Sonnanstine in 2009 because of a lineup card mix-up.