SAN FRANCISCO _ With a two-hit shutout Friday, Chris Stratton became the first Giants pitcher and just the third National League West starter to record a complete game this season.
For the first six innings of the Giants' 3-0 victory over the Rockies Saturday, Madison Bumgarner was on pace to follow Stratton's lead and blank a visiting Colorado squad.
But in a season marred by injuries, Bumgarner was the latest to require attention from the Giants' medical staff.
After Bumgarner threw his first two pitches in the sixth inning, the left-hander received a visit from manager Bruce Bochy and trainer Dave Groeschner. The starter talked his way into remaining in the game, but he did not return for the top of the seventh despite needing just 64 pitches to complete six scoreless innings.
Right-hander Sam Dyson spent the top of the sixth warming in the bullpen in case Bumgarner needed immediate relief, but southpaw Tony Watson was the first reliever to enter as he replaced Bumgarner and struck out the side in the seventh.
The Giants did not make an official announcement regarding the nature of Bumgarner's exit and it wasn't immediately clear how he may have injured himself. After losing several core players to injury this season including veteran starters Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, the Giants are unwilling to take chances and risk further harm to their 2019 squad.
The shutout win marked the Giants' 15th of the season and their third against the Rockies, all of which have come at AT&T Park. Colorado had been held scoreless just seven times this season before the weekend, but was kept off the board in back-to-back games for the first time since September 20-21, 2017.
The victory was Bumgarner's first since an Aug. 23 win in New York over the Mets, which was also the last time closer Will Smith picked up a save before he finished off the Rockies in the ninth inning Saturday.
After allowing a combined 11 earned runs in his last two starts, Bumgarner looked like an ace against a high-powered Rockies offense that entered Saturday's game with the third-most runs in the National League. Though he scattered five hits in six innings, the Giants ace induced a pair of double plays to erase a pair of Rockies' scoring chances.
For the second straight game, the Giants opened a two-run lead in the second inning as they started the frame with back-to-back hits from Brandon Crawford and Nick Hundley.
First baseman Austin Slater brought home the first run of the game with an RBI groundout before left fielder Hunter Pence blooped a single in shallow center field to double the lead.
The Giants added on in the third inning after Bumgarner led off with a double over center fielder Charlie Blackmon's head. The starting pitcher came around to score on a wild pitch in the same inning when Rockies right-hander German Marquez drilled third baseman Evan Longoria in the back with a fastball.
The plunking resulted in an emphatic warning to both sides from home plate umpire Ramon DeJesus, who took a proactive approach to reducing tensions after Bumgarner hit Colorado second baseman D.J. LeMahieu in the top of the inning.
Though Slater was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the sixth, DeJesus opted not to eject Marquez as he determined the breaking ball that clanked off the first baseman's helmet was not an intentional act.
