There's a two-headed monster rearing its visage in San Francisco. And while tourists winding down Lombard Street can rest easy, opposing hitters might want to run for their lives.
We're talking, of course, about Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto, the Giants' deadly lefty/righty duo. As we roll toward the All-Star break, they've emerged as baseball's best pitching twosome.
On Monday, Bumgarner was the tough-luck loser as San Francisco fell 1-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Still, after twirling eight innings of five-hit, one-run ball, he lowered his ERA to a minuscule 1.85.
On Tuesday, the Giants piled on the runs and wound up winning 15-4. Cueto did his part, scattering a run and four hits over 6.2 frames with one walk and six strikeouts.
Cueto's record now sits at 11-1, and the Giants are 13-2 in his starts this season.
Add San Francisco's 11-4 record when Bumgarner takes the hill and the Giants are 24-6 behind their pair of aces.
If that sounds like a good time, it has been, according to outfielder Gregor Blanco.
"He makes the game so much fun that it inspires everybody else," Blanco said of Cueto, who inked a six-year, $130 million deal with the Giants this offseason, per USA Today's Jorge L. Ortiz. "It lets us play the game the way we should always play. It's a fun game."
They make quite a pair—the "snot-rocket-blasting" southpaw from Hickory, North Carolina, and the dreadlocked Dominican with his batter-befuddling delivery.
Right now, though, they share a lot more than a mutual love of horses. They're the rock-solid core of the Giants' latest even-year run.
John Middlekauff of 95.7 The Game harkened back to the team's first Bay Area title run, which was fueled by a rotation fronted by workhorse Matt Cain and vintage Tim Lincecum:
Sure enough, San Francisco sits at 45-27 entering play on Wednesday with a comfortable 5.5-game lead over the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.
The Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw (11-1, 1.57 ERA, 141 SO, 115 IP), who is still the best pitcher on the planet. But they lost Kershaw's right-hand man, Zack Greinke, to free agency over the winter. And while Japanese import Kenta Maeda (6-4, 2.64 ERA, 79 SO, 81.2 IP) has been strong, he's a clear No. 2 as opposed to a co-No. 1.
The same goes for the New York Mets. They've gotten a Cy Young Award-caliber season so far from bolt-throwing sophomore Noah Syndergaard (7-2, 1.91 ERA, 106 SO, 85 IP), but rookie Steven Matz owns the next best ERA in New York's vaunted rotation at 2.74.
The Washington Nationals have a fine one-two punch in Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, but Scherzer has been a cut below the absolute top tier with his 3.29 ERA.
To find a starting tandem with numbers that stack up to Bumgarner/Cueto, you've got to travel to the Windy City. On the North Side, you'll find reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta and veteran lefty Jon Lester, who are having spectacular seasons for the equally spectacular Chicago Cubs.
On the South Side, meanwhile, a pair of southpaws—Chris Sale and Jose Quintana—are doing dominant things for the Chicago White Sox.
Here, let's just lay out the numbers of these three dynamic duos as of Tuesday:
Glancing at those stats, it's clear this is a four-horse race between Bumgarner/Cueto and Arrieta/Lester. And, indeed, it's a photo finish so far.
The Cubs' studs have a slight advantage in the ERA department, with Arrieta edging Bumgarner and Lester and Cueto in a flat-out tie. But where the Giants' thoroughbreds really distance themselves is in innings pitched.
Add Jeff Samardzija—an innings-eater and the Giants' other big offseason pitching addition—and you've got the makings of a reliever-saving trio—no small consideration as the season moves into the bullpen-punishing summer heat.
We can't take full stock of Bumgarner/Cueto, obviously, until the season plays out. At this point, given their early success and San Francisco's propensity to do trophy-winning stuff in years divisible by two, anything less than a deep postseason run will feel like a letdown.
For now, revel in it, Giants fans. There's a two-headed monster in town, and it looks like it's just getting comfortable.
All statistics current as of June 21 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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