PHOENIX - Madison Bumgarner didn't go as deep as he normally does, but he bowed his neck, as Bruce Bochy likes to say, and the lineup did the rest.
The Giants got two runs off Zack Greinke, who was named NL Pitcher of the Month earlier in the day, and pulled away with a five-run eighth, beating the Diamondbacks 8-1 and giving Bumgarner a win on a night he struggled to get through five.
The Giants have won four straight after a mini losing streak, keeping touch with the leaders in the National League West. Here's what you need to know …
--- It as rather remarkable that Bumgarner allowed just one run in his five innings. He gave up seven hits and walked three, and loaded the bases in each of the first two innings. But he escaped trouble, in part because Evan Longoria snagged a liner in the first that would have scored two. Bumgarner needed 70 pitches to get through the first three innings and was done after 101.
--- Bumgarner took a long look back at the mound after Greinke threw him a couple of 70 mph curveballs to strike him out in the third inning. Pitchers usually don't do that to other pitchers, but to be fair to Greinke, Bumgarner has taken him deep twice. With a runner on second in the fifth, Bumgarner waited around for his fastball and smoked it into left to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.
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--- Longoria got the Giants on the board with a solo shot on a slow curveball in the first inning. He tucked the shot just inside the left field pole. The homer was Longoria's first since coming off the DL and 11th of the year, putting him in a tie for third on the team, behind Brandon Belt and Gorkys Hernandez.
--- There has been a shift in the bullpen. Mark Melancon pitched the sixth and Ray Black followed him in the seventh. It looks like it'll stay that way, too. Melancon gave up a couple of rockets but no runs. Black struck out two and extended his hitless streak to 9 1/3 innings.
--- The Giants gave a rude welcome to two new Diamondbacks relievers. They jumped on Jake Diekman and Brad Ziegler, scoring one in the seventh and five in the eighth. Austin Slater had the big knock, a single up the middle that cleared the bases.
