San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner has been one of the best pitchers the team has had for the past few years. However, he has also been known to swing a powerful bat in the batter’s box.
On Opening Day of the 2017 Major League Baseball season on Sunday, Bumgarner showed what power he does have at the plate as he became the first pitcher to hit a pair of homers on Opening Day.
The Giants’ ace hit two solo shots in Sunday’s loss of 6-5 to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is the first pitcher in the history of baseball to hit two on the opening day of the season.
According to one statistical house, it was the hardest ever hit home run by any pitcher coming off the bat at a speed of 112.5 mph. That stat has only been recorded since 2014 when the technology first debuted.
Bumgarner holds the second and third hardest hit home runs by any pitcher as well.
His second home run was hit to left off southpaw Andrew Chafin during the seventh. He now has 16 home runs during his big league career. Last season, Bumgarner hit 3 home runs and in 2015 hit five.
This makes the second straight season that the San Francisco hurler has begun the year hitting a home run during the season’s first week.
Last season, Bumgarner hit a solo shot off Clayton Kershaw a fellow winner of the Cy Young award and helped San Francisco defeat Los Angeles 3-1 on April 9 in extra innings.
On the mound, nothing more could have been asked of Bumgarner through five innings. The Giants ace threw seven strikeouts in his first five innings, but Arizona scored three runs during the sixth to knot the game at 3-3.
The home run by Bumgarner in the seventh put San Francisco in the lead 4-3, but that lead was squandered and Arizona eventually went on to win 6-5.
Wes Ferrell is the all-time leader in home runs as a pitcher with 37. Bob Lemon is tied for second with Warren Spahn with 35. With his 16 home runs, Bumgarner is the leader for active pitchers with Yovani Gallardo in second with 12.
