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

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

"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 alone into the NL 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 runs for the Giants, who have won four straight and six of seven to move into first place in the NL West for the first time since last Aug. 9. 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.