Giants 2, Padres 0
SAN FRANCISCO -- Left-hander Madison Bumgarner took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and combined with two relievers on a two-hit shutout Monday night as the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 in the opener of a three-game series.
Center fielder Angel Pagan's RBI single highlighted a two-run third inning against Padres right-hander Tyson Ross (1-3), providing Bumgarner all the offensive support he would need in avenging a 10-2 drubbing at the hands of San Diego on April 11.
Coming off a three-game interleague sweep of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Giants (13-13) won a fourth straight for the first time this season and reached .500 for the first time since the first week of the season.
The Giants have now won seven in a row at home.
Bumgarner (3-1) dominated a Padres team that had beaten the Giants three of four in San Diego in early April. The Padres had entered the game hitting .296 against left-handed pitchers, the second-best mark in the National League.
But the Padres didn't have any hits off Bumgarner, the reigning World Series Most Valuable Player, until left fielder Justin Upton led off the seventh with a soft liner over the head of Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford for a single.
A single by first baseman Yangervis Solarte put the potential tying runs on base with no outs in the seventh, but Bumgarner retired the next three batters in order, two on strikeouts.
He left after striking out pinch-hitter Austin Hedges, making his major-league debut, to start the eighth. Right-handers Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla got the final five outs without allowing a hit.
Bumgarner allowed only the two hits in his 7 1/3 shutout innings. He walked one and struck out six.
Casilla, who pitched the ninth inning and survived the Giants' fourth error of the night, recorded his eighth save.
Pagan and first baseman Brandon Belt had two hits apiece for the Giants, who totaled eight hits.
Ross gave up two runs on seven hits in seven innings for the Padres, who were playing the opener of a nine-game trip. Hr walked three and struck out five.
The only problems Bumgarner had early on came from the Giants defense, which committed three errors in the first five innings. The left-hander had one himself on an errant pickoff throw after issuing a third-inning walk to Padres center fielder Wil Myers.
But Bumgarner pitched around the troubles by holding the Padres hitless over the stretch.
The Giants, meanwhile, had seven hits in the first four innings, but they turned them into just two runs. Both came in the third inning, one on a single by Pagan and the other on a bases-loaded walk by right fielder Justin Maxwell.
The Giants stranded two baserunners in the third, as well as in the second and fourth. They had left seven on base in those first four innings.
NOTES: For the fourth time in his six starts this season, Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner faced a lineup of all left-handed hitters (not counting the opposing pitcher). Arizona Diamondbacks OF Ender Inciarte is the only lefty-hitting non-pitcher to start against Bumgarner this year. ... Before Monday, the Padres had gone 14-1 against the Giants in games played in May since 2005, the greatest single-month matchup dominance in the majors over that stretch. ... Before the game, the Padres purchased the contract of one of their top prospects, C Austin Hodges, from Triple-A El Paso and designated veteran C Wil Nieves for assignment. Hodges, 22, a second-round pick in 2011, had been hitting .324 for El Paso with two home runs and 15 RBIs. ... Giants RHP Sergio Romo was in Sacramento during the day to receive a Latino Spirit Award from the California Latino Legislative Caucus for community service. Romo was one of eight honored at the State Capitol.