SAN FRANCISCO - The Giants did not get going in time to get Madison Bumgarner a well-earned win on Wednesday night, but they still came through with a victory.
Brandon Crawford hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth, providing the only offense in a 1-0 win over the Rockies. The blast continued the hottest streak of Crawford's career and got the Giants to 42-39 at the halfway point of the season. It also sent the Giants home happy on a night when there were so many positive signs from their ace. Here's what you need to know ...
--- The line on Bumgarner: 7 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts. Over his last two starts, Bumgarner has allowed just five hits and struck out 16 in 15 scoreless innings.
--- Bumgarner wasted no time hitting a milestone. He needed one strikeout to reach 1,500 and he opened the game by getting DJ LeMahieu looking. Bumgarner became the fourth-fastest lefty to get to 1,500 strikeouts in the live ball era, doing it in 239 games. Only Randy Johnson (206), Clayton Kershaw (218) and David Price (236) got there faster.
--- Manager Bruce Bochy played Hunter Pence in part because he had the "magic wand" going with a series of bloops and strange hits. There was nothing lucky about his single in the second inning. The rocket to shallow left had an exit velocity of 113.6 mph, the third-fastest by a Giant this year. Even with all his struggles, Pence has three of the seven hardest-hit balls of the year for the Giants.
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--- Brandon Belt took part in some early bunting practice in the afternoon. He tried to put one down with a runner on in the third. He bunted it too hard and was easily thrown out by Kyle Freeland.
--- The walk-off was the third of Crawford's career and gave him nine homers through the first half of the season.
