Bumgarner leads Giants to third straight win over Rockies
Kevin Pillar hit his fourth home run in the last six games and Madison Bumgarner carried a lead into the eighth inning Saturday afternoon as the San Francisco Giants made it three in a row over the visiting Colorado Rockies with a 5-2 victory.
Reyes Moronta stranded the potential tying run in scoring position in the eighth before the Giants tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, sending San Francisco to a triumph in a game that began barely 12 hours after a marathon 18-inning Giants win had ended earlier in the morning.
Pillar, acquired in-season from Toronto, contributed a sacrifice fly to a two-run third inning against Rockies starter Kyle Freeland (1-3) before performing a solo act in the fifth, taking the left-hander into the left field bleachers for his fourth home run of the season.
That gave the Giants a 3-0 lead, and they needed every bit of a three-run cushion as the Rockies, who lost their eighth in a row, rallied against Bumgarner (1-2).
A two-out double by Garrett Hampson in the sixth inning and one-out solo homer by Mark Reynolds in the seventh got the Rockies within 3-2.
The homer was Reynolds' second of the season.
After Chris Iannetta doubled to open the eighth, Bumgarner was replaced by Moronta, who recorded three straight strikeouts to strand the baserunner at second.
Sam Dyson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save of the season, which was made easier by the Giants' two-run uprising in the last of the eighth.
Pablo Sandoval led off the inning by striking out but reaching base on a wild pitch by Seunghwan Oh. A single by Joe Panik and walk to Brandon Belt set the stage for consecutive sacrifice flies by Gerardo Parra and Steven Duggar.
Bumgarner was charged with two runs on six hits in his seven-plus innings. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
Freeland was pulled after five innings, having allowed three runs and nine hits. He walked one and struck out five.
Rockies reliever Brian Shaw threw two shutout innings before the Giants got to Oh and Mike Dunn for their two important runs in the eighth.
Buster Posey, who drove in the Giants' second run of the third inning with a double, had two hits for San Francisco, as did Duggar and Parra.
Iannetta, who pulled his foot from home plate when trying to get a force out on what turned out to be the final play of Friday's 18-inning loss, collected two hits for the Rockies.
The Giants out-hit the Rockies 11-6.
--Field Level Media
