With one swing of the bat, Gregor Blanco put the San Francisco Giants ahead to lead-off the game. An inning later, he laced an RBI single in front of Jason Heyward, who both didn't get a good read on that ball and had fallen down on the double that had put the runner in scoring position. It was a sign of the night that was to come for the Braves.
Madison Bumgarner was outstanding in this one. Taking a perfect game into the fifth and a no-hitter into the sixth, Bumgarner dominated the Braves to the tune of a 7 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 10 K line. The talented lefty was in full command of his stuff, and he took advantage of some generous strike calls from home plate umpire, Gary Darling. It wouldn't have mattered much, regardless, as Buster Posey (3 2B), Gregor Blanco (HR, 2 RBI), and company beat up on the Braves' pitching staff.
Kris Medlen ended his string of excellent starts by missing frequently in the middle of the zone, and the Giants took advantage by lining balls all over the park. He exited after the sixth inning with a line of 6 IP, 9 H (career-high), 4 R, 0 BB, 4 K. Alex Wood entered and promptly threw 34 pitches in his worst MLB inning thus far - 1 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 2 K - to put the game completely out of reach.
It didn't matter as the Braves couldn't even match Posey's hit total on the night.
Tonight certainly wasn't the Braves' night, but they are still 39-28 and remain 5.5 games ahead of the Nationals in the division.
Win Expectancy Chart
(For the uninitiated, this is a chart showing how likely it is that either team wins at a given point in the game as well as the degree of leverage for a particular situation. You can see how certain events affected the outcome of the game and which were the most important. It's based on Wins Probability Added, whose definition can be found here.)
MVP: Chris Johnson, .016 WPA
LVP: Kris Medlen, -.187 WPA