Nats hush Giants for second-straight night

AT&T PARK — Madison Bumgarner matched zeros with Washington Nationals pitcher Doug Fister for the first four innings.

This story will be updated with post-game quotes and additional material from the Giants clubhouse.

Photos by Godofredo Vasquez/SFBay

Then Anthony Rendon and Jayson Werth lashed singles in identical spots to left field in the fifth inning and beat the Giants for the second consecutive night 2-1.

Fister (W, 5-1, 2.68 ERA) danced around eight hits and gave up no runs, walked one and struck out three in seven innings.

Bumgarner (L, 8-4, 2.67 ERA) was a victim of no run support in this one. He gave up as many hits in as many innings as Fister with as many walks, but was tagged for two runs in the outing. He also struck out five.

Bumgarner said he felt he did what he could to give the Giants a chance:

“Usually, when you a pitch a game like that, you have a pretty good chance of winning. It just didn’t work out our way. Fister was pretty good out there tonight.”

Manager Bruce Bochy expected tonight’s matchup to be a pitcher’s duel:

“Well-pitched game on both sides. … You give their pitcher credit. He’s been on a good roll. … He made pitches when he had to.”

The Giants’ best opportunity came in the eighth inning.

Tyler Clippard came in to relieve Fister and launched his first pitch five feet over catcher Wilson Ramos’ head. After Hunter Pence grounded out, Buster Posey slapped a soft liner into right field.

Pablo Sandoval walked in the following at-bat to put runners on first and second.

Giants fans roared for one big swing from Michael Morse, but were silenced when he struck out on a 3-2 fastball up in the zone. Gregor Blanco flew out to center to end the inning.

Things got exciting again in the ninth when Crawford led off the inning with a triple into the right-center gap against closer Rafael Soriano. Brandon Hicks plated him on a ground out to shortstop to make it 2-1.

Soriano got the next two batters in order to notch his 13th save of the season.

Pablo Sandoval had a productive night at the plate. He finished 3-for-3 with a walk. His average is now up to .253.

The Giants will try to take Game 3 of the four-game series against the Nationals Wednesday night when Matt Cain (1-3, 3.52 ERA) battles righty Tanner Roark (4-4, 2.91 ERA). Game time is 7:15 p.m.

Notes

The Giants have lost two straight for the first time since May 16-17 against the Miami Marlins. … Madison Bumgarner took the loss and snapped a career-high six-game win streak. … Juan Gutierrez threw two scoreless innings Tuesday night and has yet to surrender a run at home.

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