Bumgarner Pitches 7 Strong Innings In Giants' 4-2 Win Over Colorado
DENVER (CBS/AP) -- No win for the ages. Or, for that matter, the aged.
Madison Bumgarner scattered four hits over 7 1-3 innings and took a no-hit bid into the sixth Thursday in the San Francisco Giants' 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies.
At 49, Rockies pitcher Jamie Moyer failed in his second attempt to become the oldest pitcher to win a major league game.
Moyer (0-2) surrendered four runs, two of them earned, and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings. He walked one, struck out three and hit a batter before leaving to a standing ovation in the sixth.
Bumgarner (1-1), the Giants' 22-year-old lefty who wasn't even born when Colorado's crafty left-hander made his major league debut in 1986, stifled a Rockies lineup that had produced 17 runs on 22 hits the night before, yielding just four hits over 7 1-3 spectacular innings. He walked two and struck out two.
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Brian Wilson got the final three outs, converting his first save opportunity of the season. It wasn't easy, though, and he needed 32 pitches. Troy Tulowitzki doubled, Michael Cuddyer reached on an infield single. Pinch-hitter Jason Giambi singled with one out, bringing up pinch-hitter Todd Helton, who lined out to second.
Tyler Colin, who broke up Bumgarner's no-hitter in the sixth, drew a walk to make it 4-2, before Marco Scutaro flied out to right, capping an 0-for-5 day at the plate.
Colvin broke up Bumgarner's no hitter with a sinking line drive that went under he glove of a diving left fielder Melky Cabrera for a one-out triple in the sixth. He scored on Dexter Fowler's single to pull Colorado to 4-1.
The age difference between the starting pitchers -- 26 years and 256 days—was the largest since Satchel Paige faced Bill Monbouquette in 1965, and the third-largest since 1900, according to STATS LLC. That was Paige's only start that season, so on Thursday, Moyer became the oldest pitcher to make multiple starts in a season.
What he really wants is to get that first win since 2010 with Philadelphia. He missed all of last season following ligament-replacement surgery on his left elbow, which he said has left him feeling like he has a new arm.
The oldest pitcher ever to win a game in the majors was Jack Quinn of the Brooklyn Dodgers on Sept. 13, 1932, when he was 49 years, 70 days old. Moyer was 49 years, 146 days old on Thursday.
Moyer worked his way into and out of trouble in the first, when the Giants loaded the bases by an error, a walk and a hit batsman before Nate Schierholtz fouled out to first base to end the inning.
Brett Pill's bloop RBI single put the Giants ahead 1-0 in the third, and Cabrera's RBI single up the middle in the fourth made it 2-0.
Fowler dropped Ryan Theriot's flyball to center leading off the fourth for a two-base error that led to two unearned runs. Pagan drove him in with a single and scored on Cabrera's double, making it 4-0 and chasing Moyer, who tipped his cap to the crowd of 25,860 as he left.
Bumgarner looked like a younger version of Moyer, keeping hitters off-balance with a good mix of pitches and superb control that left batters mumbling in frustration on the way back to the dugout.
The Rockies had the tying run at the plate with two outs in the eighth but lefty Javier Lopez came in and got Carlos Gonzalez to ground out to second.
NOTES: C Buster Posey made his first start since coming down with shingles on Sunday night. ... On Friday, Rockies RHP Juan Nicasio (0-0) makes his first start at Coors Field since Aug. 5, when a line drive off the bat of Washington's Ian Desmond left him with a fractured skull and broken neck. He'll face Arizona's Daniel Hudson (1-0).
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