SAN FRANCISCO -- There were runners on first and second with no outs when Giants shortstop Mike Fontenot came to the plate Saturday night in the bottom of ninth of a tie game with the Colorado Rockies.
Not surprisingly, Fontenot got the bunt sign, and after he fouled off Franklin Morales' first pitch, he got it again. This time Paulino uncorked a wild pitch over Fontenot's head, sending Aaron Rowand to third and Freddy Sanchez to second.
The bunt sign came off, and Fontenot sent Morales' next pitch high and deep to right for a sacrifice fly, the first walk-off of any kind in his career and the Giants' second straight walk-off win, a 3-2 victory over Colorado.
"It can definitely get us going," Fontenot said of back-to-back dramatic wins. "To get a chance to come back home, which we were excited about, pull off two walk-off wins is huge for us."
The Giants clinched the three-game series with Colorado, with the finale set for Sunday, and beat the first-place Rockies for the fourth time in five tries this year. They improved to 17-16 overall and pulled to within two games of first place in the National League West.
"I think we're starting to come together," said Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner, who allowed one earned run over six innings but received no decision and remained winless at 0-5. "I'm starting to see a lot more intensity and a lot more fire from the guys. It's good."
One night after Sanchez delivered a game-winning single in the ninth, it was Fontenot's turn to play hero. But first, Rowand and Sanchez got the rally started with back-to-back singles off Felipe Paulino.
Up stepped Fontenot, who watched Morales' 0-1 pitch sail over his head and to the screen.
"I kind of put it out of my mind," Fontenot said. "They got the guys over, and instead of me having to bunt and just stay on the pitch, I tried not to fish at anything he might throw up there, but he ended up hanging a curveball. Got a good swing at it."
That ended the game and ignited another ninth-inning celebration for the Giants, the kind they became so familiar with last year, especially at AT&T Park.
"You get out there and walk off, everybody gets to jump around on the field, it's fun, definitely," Fontenot said.
"Like last year, there's magic inside. We seem to get fired up and get wins when we need them."
For the Rockies, there was just another huge helping of frustration.
"It's frustrating in that it was so similar to last night and the two prior days in Arizona," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "We had opportunities to get the hit to put us ahead and right now we're just not getting it. Some of these starting performances we're getting, you hate to see them get wasted."
The Giants got another win, but Bumgarner's wait for his first victory of 2011 will last at least a few days longer.
After shutting out the Rockies for six innings, Bumgarner gave up two runs in the seventh. He allowed five hits and two runs, one of them earned. He struck out five and walked two.
"Madison threw great," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Bumgarner went 0-5 in his first six starts with a 4.75 ERA. He probably deserved his 0-3 fate over his first four starts when he allowed a combined 15 earned runs in just 17 1/3 innings. But in his previous two starts before facing Colorado, Bumgarner allowed one earned run over 13 innings and received two losses for his efforts.
"I don't care if I don't win a game all year if we win; if it works out like that, I don't care," Bumgarner said.
The Giants grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning off Clayton Mortensen, a Triple-A callup starting in place of Esmil Rogers, who went on the disabled list before the game with a strained back muscle.
Rowand led off with a walk and moved to second on Sanchez's single to left. Both runners advanced on Fontenot's groundout, as Sanchez deftly avoided Alfredo Amezaga's attempt to tag him while he raced toward second.
Buster Posey then drove in Rowand with a groundout to shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.
The Giants added a run in the fifth but left the bases loaded.
Colorado pulled even in the seventh, scoring twice off Bumgarner. After singles by Amezaga and Gonzalez to start the inning, Bumgarner got the dangerous Tulowitzki to hit a one-hopper back to him. It was a perfect double-play ball, but Bumgarner threw to second before Fontenot got there. The ball went directly to Sanchez, who was backing up the play.
Todd Helton then laced a bases-loaded single to left, scoring two runs and ending Bumgarner's night.
The Giants escaped the inning without further damage, thanks to reliever Ramon Ramirez and third baseman Miguel Tejada. Tejada fielded Jose Lopez's hard hopper, spun and threw a strike to Posey, who tagged out Tulowitzki. Then Ramirez struck out Spilborghs and Iannetta to end the inning.
"He saved the game," Bumgarner said of Ramirez. "That was an unbelievable job. He came in and he put a stop to it in a hurry. If it wasn't for him, we might not be in the same situation. He definitely saved the game for us."
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