Vintage Madison Bumgarner gets back in win column for Giants

SAN FRANCISCO - Madison Bumgarner pitched eight innings of three-hit ball for his first win of the season, Mark Melancon earned his first save in a year and the Giants beat the Padres 3-0 on Thursday night.

The Giants won for the fourth time in five games and sent the last-place Padres to their fifth straight loss.

Bumgarner (1-2) struck out eight and walked two in his best start since coming off the disabled list. He also drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly.

The ace left-hander outdueled Tyson Ross (5-5), who gave up one run and four hits in seven innings. He struck out three and walked three.

Bumgarner began the season on the DL with a broken pinkie on his pitching hand sustained in his final spring training start when he was hit by a line drive. He was 0-2 with a 4.67 ERA in three previous outings since being reinstated.

Bumgarner’s sacrifice fly scored Pablo Sandoval in the fifth. Sandoval singled leading off the inning and Joe Panik followed with a double.

It was the fourth time in his career Bumgarner made a scoreless start and had the game-winning RBI, tying Stephen Strasburg and Fernando Valenzuela for the most such games by any pitcher in the last 40 years, according to STATS

The Padres’ best scoring chance came in the fifth, when Jose Pirela was thrown out at home trying to score from second on Manuel Margot’s one-out double to deep right. Giants catcher Buster Posey tagged out Pirela after a perfect relay from Andrew McCutchen and Panik.

San Francisco added two insurance runs in the eighth, when Posey singled through a drawn-in infield after Alen Hanson’s leadoff triple against reliever Phil Maton.

Melancon, who started the season on the DL with a right elbow flexor strain, pitched the ninth for his first save since June 20, 2017.