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Bumgarner caps season versus Rockies

Sep 27, 2011 - 2:49 PM (Sports Network) - One night after Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong capped his comeback season with a solid victory, Madison Bumgarner will try to put the finishing touches on his breakout campaign this evening when San Francisco battles the Colorado Rockies in the middle portion of a three-game series.

After posting a 7-6 mark and 3.00 earned run average in 18 starts last year, the 22-year-old Bumgarner has made 32 starts for the Giants in 2011. He has pitched to a solid 3.32 ERA in that span, though he is just 12-13 as well.

Bumgarner evened his season mark with a recent five-start winning streak, but dropped back below .500 with a loss at the Dodgers on Thursday. The left- hander, who is 2 1/3 innings shy of 200 for the season, allowed four earned runs over his win streak, but matched that total over four frames against the Dodgers.

"He didn't have his normal good stuff," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "He was off. You're going to have an off night and that's what it was tonight."

Bumgarner is 1-3 with a 2.43 ERA in his career versus the Rockies, picking up that first victory on Sept. 16 after tossing seven innings and allowing only one unearned run.

He takes the hill tonight after Vogelsong hurled seven scoreless innings in last night's 3-1 win.

Vogelsong made 28 starts in his unlikely All-Star campaign after spending four seasons out of the big leagues. He even singled and scored on Mike Fontenot's two-run triple in the third.

"I'm not as taxed innings wise for being 34 years old," said Vogelsong, who was a middle reliever with the Pirates in 2005-06.

The Giants, who were eliminated from postseason contention over the weekend, snapped a four-game slide and won their sixth straight over Colorado. They sport an impressive 12-4 mark versus the Rockies this year, taking six of seven at home.

Jhoulys Chacin took the loss after allowing two runs on eight hits in seven innings for the Rockies, who have lost 10 of their past 12.

"If he's able to do what he did tonight, he's a 200-inning guy and potentially a big-time winner," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said of Chacin.

Tracy hopes such a resume is in Alex White's future, but the 23-year-old continues to go through his growing pains since being acquired from Cleveland in the Ubaldo Jimenez deal.

White has given up at least five earned runs in five of his six starts with the Rockies, going 2-3 with an 8.63 ERA. The rookie did win his first two starts of the month regardless, but has dropped back-to-back games to the Giants and Astros.

Facing San Francisco for the first time on Sept. 16, the right-hander gave up six runs on nine hits -- including homers to Brandon Belt and Cody Ross -- over 5 2/3 innings. Six days later in Houston, he was charged with five runs on six hits over 4 2/3 frames, striking out six without a walk.

"Alex wasn't real sharp," Tracy said. "His command tonight was very erratic. He was spraying a lot of pitches tonight."