Bumgarner backed by Duffy to down Rockies
SAN FRANCISCO -- Matt Duffy finished a single away from hitting for the cycle to support Madison Bumgarner's 7 2/3 innings of two-run ball, as the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-3, in the series finale Sunday afternoon at AT&T Park.
Duffy tripled in his first at-bat, doubled in his second and homered in his third to help the Giants win for the fifth time in their last seven games at home. Bumgarner, who also slugged his second homer of the season in the seventh, allowed five hits and two walks while striking out eight Rockies in his first win since June 6. He also made some history as the youngest pitcher in San Francisco Giants history to reach 1,000 career strikeouts.
"I felt good right from the start," Bumgarner said. "I just kept making pitches and the ball started rolling our way."
Video: COL@SF: Bumgarner launches towering solo home run
Kyle Kendrick surrendered five runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. Nolan Arenado extended his league-leading hitting streak to 15 games with a two-run home run in the first inning and added a solo shot in the ninth to provide all the Rockies' runs.
"We scored a couple early," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "You know you're not going to get a bunch of runs off him. You have to fight for every run you get off of Bumgarner, but he settled in and threw the ball real well after that."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Duffy falls short of cycle: Duffy stepped to the plate in the seventh inning needing a single to hit for the cycle. The third baseman slapped a first-pitch line drive that hit off the glove of Rockies first baseman Wilin Rosario and fell foul. Giants manager Bruce Bochy challenged the play, but the replay officials couldn't determine if the ball was in fair territory when Rosario touched it and ruled the call stands. Duffy grounded into an inning-ending double play on the next pitch he saw.
Video: COL@SF: Giants challenge foul call on Duffy's liner
"It was close," Duffy said. "Even if they do say that ball is fair, where do they put me? Do they put me at first or do they put me at second?" More >
Another day, another Arenado homer (or two): It does seem that way. Even against Bumgarner, Arenado made the ball fly for a two-run shot in the first. Arenado's two homers gave him eight in the last seven games; in the last five years, only Arenado and the Tigers' Miguel Cabrera have gone seven straight games with at least one hit, one run and one RBI.
Video: COL@SF: Arenado clubs two homers against Giants
"I'm just ready to hit," Arenado said. "Whenever I've been getting pitches up in the zone, lately I've been hitting them. I have no answer." More >
Posey plates two: Buster Posey loves hitting with men on base. Posey, who singled in a run in the first, stepped to the dish with two on and two out in the third inning and ripped a single to left field to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. The catcher is thriving with runners in scoring position and two outs this season, hitting .419 with 23 RBIs in such situations.
Video: COL@SF: Posey rips go-ahead two-run single to left
"Early on, I should have pitched around Posey -- I can't let him beat us," Kendrick said.
Souvenir time: Kendrick went his first five innings without the ball leaving the park, but that changed in the sixth with long balls from Duffy and Brandon Crawford. Kendrick has served up a Majors-leading 23 homers. Kendrick said the Duffy homer was a poor sinker, but Crawford's homer and a Gregor Blanco double immediately thereafter that chased him from the game were poor strategy.
Video: COL@SF: Crawford tattoos solo blast to right field
"I was getting a lot of outs early with my changeup, especially to lefties," Kendrick said. "I felt like the left-handed hitters later were kind of sitting on it. They made an adjustment, I didn't."
QUOTABLE
"He started out as a utility player and he just forced the issue with the type of ball that he played. Fortunately, with [Casey McGehee's] injury, Duffy gets some time. He just played so well you couldn't take him out. I hate to think of where we'd be without him." -- Bochy on Duffy.
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
At 25 years and 331 days old, Bumgarner became the third-youngest Giants pitcher to strike out 1,000 batters behind Amos Rusie (21 years old in 1893) and Christy Mathewson (25 years, 12 days old in 1905).
Video: COL@SF: Bumgarner collects 1,000th career strikeout
WHAT'S NEXT
Rockies: The Rockies stay in the Bay Area to open a three-game series with the Athletics on Monday at 8:05 p.m. MT. Righty David Hale (2-2, 5.86 ERA) will face A's righty Kendall Graverman (4-4, 3.86).
Giants: After an off-day Monday, the Giants head to Miami to take on the Marlins in a three-game set. Ryan Vogelsong gets the ball to begin the series Tuesday. The right-hander is 3-3 in 10 career starts against the Marlins and his 1.89 ERA against them is his lowest against an opponent he's faced more than three times.
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