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Jul 1, 2010 - 2:42 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

San Francisco (40-36) at Colorado (41-36), 8:40 p.m. EDT

A punchless homestand saw the San Francisco Giants match their longest losing streak of the season. They will try to end that skid in the opener of an 11-game road trip that leads into the All-Star break.

Losers of five straight, the Giants face the Colorado Rockies, one of the NL's best home teams, Thursday night.

San Francisco (40-37) opened a six-game homestand with a 5-4 win over Boston on Friday, but dropped all of the remaining contests while totaling nine runs.

The Giants have batted .220 during the slide and gone 3 for 27 with runners in scoring position. They collected seven hits in an 8-2 defeat to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, concluding the home stretch by getting swept in three games by their NL West archrivals.

"There's no sugar-coating it, we didn't play well this whole homestand," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We got our tails kicked. Our challenge is to get out of this as soon as possible. We're still in a pretty good position."

San Francisco is fourth in the West, one-half game behind the third-place Rockies (41-37) and 5 1/2 behind San Diego for first.

The Giants, who have not dropped six in a row since April 10-16, 2009, will need to play better on the road if they're going to close the gap. They've dropped 12 of 18 away from San Francisco as they head into their longest trip of the season.

The Giants, making their first visit to Coors Field in 2010, have lost five of six in Colorado. The teams split the first six season meetings at AT&T Park.

Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 5.14), one of the Giants' top prospects, gets another chance to claim the No. 5 spot in the rotation with Todd Wellemeyer recovering from a strained quadriceps.

"It would be ideal if he's our guy," Bochy told the team's official website.

The 20-year-old left-hander, 7-1 with a 3.16 ERA in 14 Triple-A starts this season, may have been victimized by early nerves in his 2010 debut Saturday. He allowed four runs and four hits with two homers in the opening two innings, but yielded one hit over the next five in a 4-2 loss to the Red Sox.

The Rockies are starting a season high-tying 10-game homestand that leads into the July 13 All-Star game. Colorado is 23-14 at home and has won seven of nine there.

A return to Coors could be just what the Rockies need to rebound from a 13-3 loss to first-place San Diego on Wednesday.

"Going home right now, we're just focused on playing better baseball," first baseman Todd Helton said. "To win the division you got to beat those teams."

Aaron Cook (2-5, 4.69) should also be happy to be home as he tries for his second win in 12 games overall.

The right-hander has gone 1-3 with a 4.57 ERA in his last 11 outings, but 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA in his most recent eight home starts dating to last year.

He gave up a first-inning grand slam to Hideki Matsui on Saturday before retiring the next 17 batters, pitching a four-hitter in a 4-2 road defeat to the Los Angeles Angels.

Cook went 3-3 with a 6.00 ERA in his last six home starts versus the Giants. He lost his most recent outing against them 5-2 at AT&T Park on April 30, giving up five runs and walking five in six innings.