Giants Notebook: Doug Fister edges Madison Bumgarner in pitcher's duel vs Nationals

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This is what a losing streak feels like. For the first time since losing the first two games in the series against Miami in mid-May, San Francisco has lost another two games in a row.

Washington took a 2-1 pitching duel last night with Doug Fister pitching a dominant seven innings, giving up eight hits but not letting any runs cross home plate. The Giants' old woes of runners in scoring position reared their ugly head with the team going 1-10; the only one finally happening by Brandon Crawford in the final inning.

The Nationals nearly had the same fate, going just 1-9 themselves in the same category. But they were able to open up the game in the fifth inning to finally break into Madison Bumgarner, who went seven innings himself and gave up as many hits, but two earned runs.

Too bad the Giants can't play the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets all the time.

Wednesday's matchup: Matt Cain (R, 1-3, 3.52) vs Tanner Roark (R, 4-4, 2.91)
Game time: 7:15 PT | TV: Comcast Bay Area, MASN 2 | Live Stream: MLB.TV

Manager Bruce Bochy believes this is a good wake-up call for the Giants who have been thriving for about four weeks. Washington currently sits tied with Atlanta at 34-29, and they could easily have the best team in the division to make the postseason and take on San Francisco at some point.

The Giants will try to even this four-game regular season series up with another game tonight followed by a day game on Thursday.