The San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals meet on Tuesday for game two of their series at AT&T Park.

The San Francisco Giants fell back into a tie for first place in the NL West as they were pummeled on Monday by the Nationals. Brandon Crawford hit a home run and Marco Scuataro, Melky Cabrera, and Buster Posey all had hits but it was never close as the Giants scored two runs on eight hits. Starter Ryan Vogelsong was shellacked allowing nine hits and eight runs while striking out five over 2.2 innings to fall to 10-6 on the year. For Tuesday’s game San Francisco looks to bounce back as they start Madison Bumgarner who hasn’t allowed more than three runs in a game since July 4^th. For the season Bumgarner has allowed 129 hits and 53 earned runs while striking out 144 over 154.2 innings of work for a 3.08 ERA.

The Washington Nationals took Monday’s game with the Giants as an opportunity to remind everybody that they have the best record in baseball this season. Danny Espinosa and Roger Bernadina each had four hits and Steve Lombardozzi, Ryan Zimmerman, and Kurt Suzuki each had three hits as the Nationals scored 14 runs on 21 hits. Starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez coasted with the big lead as he allowed six hits and two runs while striking out four over 6.2 innings to raise his record to 14-6 on the year. For Tuesday’s game Washington starts Jordan Zimmerman who has won his last six decisions. For the season Zimmerman has allowed 129 hits and 38 earned runs while striking out 110 over 145.1 innings of work for a 2.35 ERA.

San Francisco is 5-2 in their last seven games as a favorite, 1-5 in their last six games against the NL East, and 17-4 in Bumgarner’s last 21 home starts. Washington is 7-1 in their last eight games following a win, 7-2 in their last nine games as a road underdog, and 6-0 in Zimmerman’s last six starts. Washington has won the last four meetings of these two.

The Giants have to be thankful that Monday’s game still just counts as one loss and look for them to bounce back here and win a tight one though there are a lot of other places I would rather be than on this game.