Bumgarner Pitches Well In Giants' 2-1 Loss
Holding the Colorado Rockies to two runs at Coors Field is normally a cause for celebration.
Madison Bumgarner only got a tough-luck loss.
Bumgarner tossed a complete game over eight innings but Nolan Arenado hit a go-ahead homer leading off the fifth, lifting the Rockies to a 2-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.
It was Bumgarner's third career complete game and the first time he has lost when going the distance.
Hunter Pence homered for the Giants, who have lost five of their past six after a strong start to the season.
"I'm not frustrated for myself. We should be winning all these games right now but just going through a rough patch," Bumgarner said.
"We showed what kind of team we are the first week of the season. We've got a lot of potential. No matter how good you are you're going to go through times like this."
Bumgarner's outing should have been enough a night after Ryan Vogelsong couldn't get out of the second inning in an 8-2 loss.
Colorado followed Monday's five-homer night with solo shots by Troy Tulowitzki and Arenado.
"It was nice to go deep in the game. I've been struggling with staying out there lately," Bumgarner said. "I was real happy to come past that."
The Giants couldn't solve Morales (2-1), who allowed five hits over seven innings to match the longest outing of his career. The left-hander's only mistake was a hanging slider to Pence in the fifth. It was Pence's second homer of the season and came right after Tulowitzki had put Colorado ahead with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the fourth.
"I didn't go up to the box thinking home run," Pence said. "Right now my focus is to see the ball as good as I can and put a good swing on it. I happened to get a pitch right there."
Bumgarner (2-2) was nearly as effective as Morales. He allowed nine hits in eight innings and struck out six.
It was the first complete game by a Giants starter in 2014 and the first for Bumgarner since 2012.
"Bum pitched great. He did a real nice job," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Complete game, two runs in this ballpark. That's a nice effort. We had our chances."
Morales worked his way into a jam in his seventh and final inning when he allowed a two-out double to Bumgarner.
But Morales struck out Angel Pagan with a sinking cutter - his 99th pitch of the night - to end the threat. Morales pumped his fist and let out a scream before heading toward the dugout.
Things got a little shaky for Colorado in the eighth, when the Giants had runners on first and second with one out. Rex Brothers was summoned and needed one pitch to entice Pablo Sandoval to hit into a double play to quell the rally.
"If you swing at the first pitch you want to hit it a little better than that," Bochy said.
Same thing with the ninth. Closer LaTroy Hawkins, who took over after Brothers got the first out of the inning, walked pinch hitter Brandon Crawford and allowed a single to Gregor Blanco, who was also pinch hitting. Hector Sanchez, the third straight pinch hitter, struck out and Pagan bounced out to short to end the comeback bid.
"We fought back in the ninth, had a couple of good hitters up there but we couldn't get anything done," Bochy said.
Mixing a 93-mph fastball with a late-moving cutter, Bumgarner kept the Rockies off balance most of the night. He's so difficult for lefties to solve that hot-hitting Charlie Blackmon was given the night off. Blackmon is hitting .411 this season with four homers and 13 RBIs.
NOTES: Ehire Adrianza wore jersey No. 6 instead of No. 53. ... The Giants placed LHP David Huff (left quadriceps strain) on the DL and recalled OF Juan Perez from Triple-A Fresno. ... RHP Matt Cain (0-3) searches for his first win of the season in the series finale Wednesday. The Rockies will throw RHP Tyler Chatwood (1-0).
