Giants grab lead in West

SAN FRANCISCO - Madison Bumgarner's teammates had something special for him - a shower of beer and shaving cream, a celebration for his first career shutout.

He was also one pitch away from something even more memorable.

Bumgarner pitched a one-hitter, allowing only Ryan Hanigan's single leading off the sixth inning, as the Giants threw their franchise-record fourth straight shutout and beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 on Thursday.

"It's nice to get a complete-game shutout," Bumgarner said. "But four straight shutouts? That's awesome."

Bumgarner (10-4) struck out eight and walked two in winning his fifth straight decision. San Francisco moved into the National League West lead for the first time this year.

"By the numbers, it's the best game I've thrown," Bumgarner said. "But I've felt better and gotten beaten up pretty bad. That's the way this game goes."

The Giants became the 17th team to have four or more consecutive shutouts since 1918. The Baltimore Orioles did it most recently, with five straight in 1995.

"I've seen a lot of things in this game but I've never seen that before," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's been an impressive run. That's hard to do."

Angel Pagan, Pablo Sandoval, Gregor Blanco and Ryan Theriot each drove in a run for the Giants, who have won four straight and six of seven to move into first place for the first time since Aug. 9, 2011. Melky Cabrera had two hits and reached base four times.

"It's exciting stuff," Sandoval said. "When they are throwing like that, it's fun to play defense. You want to make the plays."

Johnny Cueto (9-4) had his four-game winning streak halted. He allowed two earned runs and six hits in six innings.

"You just hate for Johnny to lose like that," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "It was a situation where he just got outpitched."

Bumgarner faced two over the minimum as Giants pitchers extended their scoreless streak to a San Francisco-record 36 innings. He walked Drew Stubbs in the first and then retired eight straight before walking him again in the fourth.

"Bottom line, he carved us up," Hanigan said. "I think we were a little flat. I don't think we had the right approach, the team in general."