Bumgarner tries to right self on mound in rematch with Rockies

Madison Bumgarner did enough with his bat to help his team win in his last start, but it was his effort on the mound that made things more difficult.

The San Francisco Giants' hurler aims to rebound on Monday night in a rematch with the Colorado Rockies that begins a four-game series.

The 23-year-old Bumgarner is winless in his last four starts, giving up at least four earned runs in each outing. He lost three in a row before a no- decision at the Rockies on Tuesday, charged with five runs on 11 hits over 4 1/3 innings.

The Giants, though, eventually won 9-8 and got some help at the plate in the form of Bumgarner's three-run homer in the fourth inning off Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin.

The homer did nothing to make Bumgarner feel better about his outing afterwards.

"I'm all for helping us win, but my job is to go out there and pitch, not to hit," Bumgarner told San Francisco's website. "The ball was up a lot. That didn't work out too good. I didn't have very good command of really any pitch away. I pitch in a lot, but you got to be able to throw away, too, and I wasn't able to do that. It seemed like they were just sitting on one spot."

The southpaw sits at 14-10 with a 3.32 earned run average in 29 starts this season and 4-3 with a 2.48 ERA in 10 lifetime meetings with Colorado.

Chacin will also be looking for a better effort tonight as he gets the call for the Rockies. He is aiming for his first victory in three starts and did not factor into Tuesday's outing as well.

Chacin allowed four runs on six hits over four innings, giving him a 2-5 record and 4.86 ERA in 10 starts this season.

The 24-year-old righty is 3-4 with a 3.78 ERA lifetime versus the Giants.

The Giants took two out of three in that series at Colorado last week and have won 10 of 14 against the Rockies this year.

San Francisco had a four-game winning streak snapped on Sunday with a 10-2 setback to the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, it still leads the Los Angeles Dodgers by 7 1/2 games for first place in the NL West.

Buster Posey had an RBI and scored a run, but Ryan Vogelsong was touched for six earned runs over five hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings.

"His stuff is good. He's just going through a rough period," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Vogelsong.

Colorado lost a shootout with the San Diego Padres on Sunday, falling 12-11.

The Rockies evened the game with a six-run eighth inning, but saw the Padres drive in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on Yonder Alonso's single.

"They scored 12 (runs) and nine were with two outs. Those types of situations are very difficult to deal with," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.

Colorado, which has only won three times in its last 13 games, surrendered 16 hits and walked six as a pitching staff.