The San Francisco Giants were hoping to earn their first series win of the season on Thursday afternoon, facing off with the Colorado Rockies in the finale at Coors Field. Madison Bumgarner found his groove against the Rockies hitters early, while the Giants remained patient against journeyman Jamie Moyer, earning the relatively normal 4-1 victory.
Bumgarner had a no-hitter going through 6.1 innings, which Melky Cabrera tried to save with a lunging catch off Tyler Colvin, which would lead to a triple and the lone Rockies run after a Dexter Fowler single. Bummy would finish with only four runs in 7.1 innings pitched along with two walks and two strikeouts.
The Giants offense left them loaded against Jamie Moyer in the first inning, but finally got to him in the third with an RBI single from Brett Pill and another from Melky Cabrera in the fourth. Angel Pagan got that big hit he'd been looking for with an RBI single in the sixth, followed by an RBI double from the Melkman to make it 4-0 Giants. That would cause Jim Tracy to pull Moyer after 5.2 innings, with eight hits, two earned runs, one walk and three strikeouts on the afternoon.
Brian Wilson came in for the save in the ninth, loading the bases for dramatic effect in true Wilson fashion. He seemed to injure himself on a pitch to Tyler Colvin, causing Bruce Bochy and trainer Dave Groeschner to come to the mound. Wilson decided to stay in, walked Colvin to score Troy Tulowitzki and brought Colorado within two of the lead. Wilson gutted through to earn the save, getting Marco Scutaro to fly out to end the game on his 32nd pitch of the outing.
Brandon Crawford and Melky Cabrera both finished 2-4 for the game, while Melky plated two RBI to push his average to .385 so far this season. Brett Pill also had a nice showing in his first start of the season going 1-3 with an RBI.
Full box score can be found here.
Matt Cain (0-0 7.50 ERA) will take the mound on Friday in the Giants home opener at AT&T Park against James McDonald (0-0 3.50 ERA) and the Pittsburgh Pirates. First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m. PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
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