Read More: mlb, baseball, nl central, great american ballpark, nl west, kung fu panda, juan marichal, Barry Zito (P – SFG), Jeff Keppinger (2B – SFG), Brandon Phillips (2B – CIN), Miguel Cairo (2B – CIN), Carlos Beltran (RF – SFG), Edgar Renteria (SS – CIN), Johnny Cueto (P – CIN), Jay Bruce (RF – CIN), Pablo Sandoval (3B – SFG), Brandon Belt (1B – SFG), San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants at Cincinnati Reds, Jul 30, 2011 4:10 PM PDT

The San Francisco Giants Madison Bumgarner came into Saturday’s matchup with the Cincinnati Reds looking for his third straight win, but after the first inning was just trying to keep it close. The Reds batted around on Bummy in the first, finishing with 5 runs in the frame and an eventual 7-2 win at the Great American Ballpark. 

All in all Bumgarner laster for only four innings of the night, allowing seven runs (six earned) on seven hits along with three walks and four strikeouts. Bummy had himself a 30 minute 40 pitch first inning with Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce and Chris Haisley raking RBI singles. He settled down for a few innings but lost composure again in the fifth after a balk and an error from Pablo Sandoval cost him a run, then another RBI single from Miguel Cairo put the fork in Bumgarner for good. Madison also broke his streak of 19 straight starts with two walks or fewer tonight, two shy of Giants legend Juan Marichal’s Giants record. 

Pablo Sandoval launched a solo shot in the second, his 11th of the year, while an Edgar Renteria error in the fourth scored Chris Stewart for the Giants only other run. Pablo finished the night 3-5, Jeff Keppinger was 2-5, Brandon Belt was 1-4 while Carlos Beltran was 0-5 in his third game in the Black and Orange. 

With the loss the Giants move to 61-46, and drop only their fifth three game series of the year. Full box score can be found here. 

The Giants will look to avoid being swept in the Queen City Sunday as Barry Zito (3-3 5.24 ERA) will take the mound for San Francisco to face Johnny Cueto (6-4 1.88 ERA) for Cincinnati. First pitch is set for 10:10 am PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area, MLB Network and KNBR 680 AM. 

SAN FRANCISCO, June 10 (UPI) — Johnny Cueto teamed with two relievers on a four-hitter Thursday that gave the Cincinnati Reds a 3-0 victory over San Francisco.

Cueto (3-2) shut down the Giants over seven innings, allowing all four San Francisco hits while striking out eight. Nick Masset and Francisco Cordero each worked a perfect relief inning with Cordero earning his 12th save.

The Giants had their lead over Arizona in the National League West trimmed to one game.

Cincinnati took the lead in the fourth when Scott Rolen doubled with two out against Madison Bumgarner and scored on a single up the middle by Jonny Gomes.

It remained a 1-1 contest until Joey Votto scored in the eighth on a bases-loaded passed ball charged to Eli Whiteside. Brandon Phillips singled in the final run in the ninth.

Bumgarner (2-8) suffered the loss, giving up a lone run on eight hits in seven innings.

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It was another pitcher’s duel at AT&T Thursday night as Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants squared off with the Cincinnati Reds. The offense was once again hard to come by for Bummy, who pitched very well; just not as well as Johnny Cueto, who along with his battery mates shut out the Giants by a score of 3-0.

Bumgarner (L 2-8) suffered another hard luck loss after pitching seven solid innings, allowing only one run on eight hits, with no walks and seven strikeouts. His counterpart this evening, Johnny Cueto (W 3-2), was extremely effective in his seven innings, allowing only four hits while fanning eight Giants. Nick Masset and Francisco Cordero kept the G-Men silent in eighth and ninth, with Cordero earning his 12th save of the season.

The Giants offense really struggled tonight, going 0-7 with runners in scoring position and only one extra base hit, a double by Miguel Tejada, who finished 2-4 on the night and the only Giant with more than one hit.

A Johnny Gomes single in the fourth plated Scott Rolen to get the Reds on the board, but they didn’t score again until the eighth after a passed ball from Eli Whiteside scored Joey Votto. The Reds added another in the ninth off a Brandon Philips RBI single.

Former San Francisco Giant and current Cincinnati Red Edgar Renteria received his World Series ring before the game to a great ovation at AT&T. Great to see him back, the fans will certainly always have love for that man. 

With the loss the Giants move to 35-28 on the year.Full box score can be found here.

Friday will see Ryan Vogelsong (4-1 1.68 ERA) take the mound for the Giants to take on Travis Wood (4-4 5.72 ERA) for the Reds. Coverage will start at 7:15 p.m. PT on NBC Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.

For more on the San Francisco Giants, head over to McCovey Chronicles to get in on the action.

On a night when Johnny Cueto had sharp stuff, he was especially tough when the San Francisco Giants mounted a couple of threats.

Cueto got two of his season-high eight strikeouts with a runner on third base and less than two outs and threw seven scoreless innings to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night.

“He threw an outstanding ballgame,” manager Dusty Baker said. “He got out of trouble twice with a runner on third. That’s big to do that with strikeouts. He’s turning into that kind of pitcher.”

Jonny Gomes had three hits and an RBI, Brandon Phillips also drove in a run and the Reds as the Reds opened their seven-game West Coast swing with a win.

But the key was Cueto (3-2), who allowed just four hits and struck out eight — including the side in order in the third inning — in a dominating performance that ended a four-start winless streak.

“Johnny Cueto has been lights out this year,” Phillips said. “I wish his record was better than what it was. We just haven’t given him many runs lately. We did a better job today. … He’s becoming one of the best pitchers in the league.”

Nick Masset pitched a scoreless eighth and Francisco Cordero finished the four-hitter for his 12th save in 14 chances.

Miguel Tejada doubled twice, but the Giants managed just two other hits and were shut out for the sixth time this season. San Francisco has been held to one run or fewer in 15 of 63 games this season.

The Giants had a few chances to score in this game, twice getting a runner to third base with one out to no avail. With runners on first and third and one out in the fourth, Cueto struck out Cody Ross and got Brandon Crawford to fly out.

Then in the sixth, Tejada hit a leadoff double and went to third on a sacrifice bunt by No. 3 hitter Freddy Sanchez. The move didn’t pay off when Cueto struck out Aubrey Huff on a pitch in the dirt and got Nate Schierholtz to ground out.

That’s been a pattern for the Giants, who have scored the fewest runs in the majors this season. The Giants are hitting just .190 in their last six games — being held to five hits or fewer four times.

“We just have to get this figured out,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s gone on longer than even I thought it would. We just need to get a couple of guys hot and right now we’re having a tough time doing that.”

Cueto needed to be that stingy on a night when the Reds’ high-scoring offense managed little against Madison Bumgarner (2-8). Cincinnati’s only run off Bumgarner came when Scott Rolen hit a two-out double in the fourth and scored on Gomes’ single.

The Reds had a chance to add on in the seventh when Gomes reached on a fly ball that fell between Huff, Sanchez and Schierholtz near the right-field line and Edgar Renteria reached on a bunt single. But Ramon Hernandez hit into a double play and Cueto flied out to center to end that threat.

Bumgarner allowed one run and eight hits in seven innings, striking out seven in his ninth straight quality start. But for the seventh time in his eight losses this season, the Giants were held to one or fewer runs as he was once again done in by bad luck.

“We have a good team and they all support me so I’m not going to worry about it,” Bumgarner said. “I don’t expect them to apologize. Hitting is the hardest thing to do. I think we’ll be fine. We’re still in it. It’s not like we’re out of it.”

Cincinnati added an unearned run in the eighth off Santiago Casilla when Joey Votto doubled with two outs, followed by an intentional walk to Jay Bruce and a walk to Scott Rolen. With Gomes at the plate, a pitch got past Eli Whiteside for a passed ball, allowing Votto to score the second run.

Phillips added an RBI single in the ninth for the Reds.

Before the game, Renteria was presented his 2010 World Series ring in an on-field ceremony. Renteria was the World Series MVP for the Giants last season before the team decided not to bring him back this year. He went 1 for 4.

“It was great,” Baker said. “They loved it, he loved it, the fans loved it. It was a very classy thing.”

Notes: Rolen returned to the lineup for the Reds after missing the previous three games with a throat illness. … Bumgarner has one win in 15 career home starts for the Giants. … Whiteside threw out Phillips trying to steal second to end the first inning for just the third caught stealing in the last 23 attempts by Giants catchers.

By Rob Neyer

– National Baseball Editor

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May 30, 2011 – Whether it’s the Jonny Venters-like grip on his sinking fastball or something else, Jair Jurrjens somewhat suddenly looks like one of the best pitchers in the National League, all the more so after pitching the Atlanta Braves to a 2-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds Sunday night.

Not that Jurrjens’ seventh victory — against just one defeat — came easy. In the first inning, Jurrjens hung a change-up to Jay Bruce, who deposited the pitch beyond the right-field fence, 456 feet beyond, for his league-leading 15th home run.

The score was still 1-0 after five innings, with Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto pitching a gem of his own. But in the bottom of the sixth, Braves center fielder Jordan Schafer worked a leadoff walk after fouling off three straight 2-2 pitches. Next up, Martin Prado — whose numbers have been down this season — took two pitches for balls, then drove Cueto’s 93-m.p.h. fastball, right down the middle, over the left-field fence for his seventh homer of the season, putting the Braves up 2-1.

And of course that’s how things ended. But there was some drama yet left.

In the top of the 8th, with Jurrjens still on the mound, Paul Janish led off with a single and moved to second on Cueto’s sacrifice bunt. To nobody’s real surprise, National League strikeout leader Drew Stubbs struck out. Also to nobody’s real surprise, Brandon Phillips followed with line-drive single to left field. Prado fielded the ball cleanly and unleashed an accurate throw homeward, where David Ross tagged Janish just in time.

According to umpire Dan Iassogna, anyway. Replays suggested that Janish’s foot scrapped the plate just before Ross applied the tag, but then replays suggest a lot of things that don’t get into the record books. Whatever actually happened, Janis was out, the inning over and the Braves still ahead.

Having thrown only 97 pitches, Jurrjens gave way to Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning. Kimbrel’s struggled some lately, and he got into some real trouble in this game, too. Joey Votto led off with a walk. And after Scott Rolen popped out and Bruce struck out, Fred Lewis singled Votto into scoring position. But Kimbrel finally finished off the Reds — and earned his 15th save — by striking out Ramon Hernandez swinging at a high fastball, 98 miles an hour.

Meanwhile, Jurrjens now leads Major League Baseball with a 1.51 ERA.

For more about the Braves and the Reds, please visit Talking Chop and Red Reporter.

Read More: Martin Prado (LF – ATL), Jair Jurrjens (P – ATL), Paul Janish (SS – CIN), Johnny Cueto (P – CIN), Jay Bruce (RF – CIN), Craig Kimbrel (P – ATL), Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves

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