By Morris Phillips

A month from now when playoff spots are finalized, the Giants will know if the three, gutty wins over Colorado will outweigh the four, consecutive, inexplicable losses to the same, last place bunch.

They will also know if they waited too long to install Yusmeiro Petit into the starting rotation.

On Thursday, the Giants put the final touches on the three wins as Yusmeiro Petit joined the starting rotation with a historic performance and a win in the Giants’ 4-1 victory.  With the win, the Giants moved within a half game of lead wild card St. Louis, and 4 ½ games of the NL West-leading Dodgers who were idle on Thursday.

Petit came in having retired the 38 consecutive batters over five relief appearances and a spot start at Washington.  Not surprisingly, all six Petit appearances prior to Thursday came in a Giants’ loss as the team has struggled, while Petit has elevated his game.  But against the Rockies, the team and pitcher were on the same page as Petit pitched the first six innings, allowing a run on four hits.

But by retiring the first eight batters he faced, Petit established a new major league record by retiring the previous 46 batters he faced in a row.  The 29-year old Venezuelan has fought hard to revive his career with the Giants after his release by Arizona in 2009 and now he has a record—albeit a bit obscure record—to highlight his renaissance.

“This game’s been played a long time and that’s quite a record to be proud of,” manager Bruce Bochy said.  “It’s amazing to me.”

Mark Buerhle previously held the record for consecutive batters retired at 45.  He set that mark in 2009, breaking Bobby Jenks streak of 41 batters.  Prior to that, the record set by Jim Barr of the Giants in 1972—also with 41 batters—remained unmatched for an incredible 35 years.

While Petit was on the mound, the Giants backed him with Gregor Blanco’s two-run homer in the first inning and Hunter Pence’s sacrifice fly in the sixth that gave the team a 3-1 lead.  A trio of relievers backed Petit as well, handcuffing the Rockies in the final three frames with Santiago Casilla picking up the save.

Petit was elevated into the starting rotation after Tim Lincecum registered a month of poor starts that forced Bochy to demote the two-time Cy Young Award winner.  Now, Bochy will have to decide if the Giants will continue to turn to Petit as their much-needed hot arm in the rotation.  Based on his comments afterwards, Bochy hopes Petit’s effort inspires both pitchers.

“These are things we’ll talk about, but it’s hard to change with the job he did today,” Bochy replied when asked if Petit had earned a spot in the rotation.  “Of, course, Timmy—this will allow him to work on some things.”

The Giants captured the final three games of the four-game set ahead of the NL Central-leading Brewers making their only appearance at AT&T Park over the weekend.  While the wins put the Giants at big advantage over the rest of the wild-card hopefuls, the four losses to Colorado that preceded the wins may have cost them a shot at the NL West title. 

The Rockies have won just 19 road games all season, but five of those have come in San Francisco.

The Giants don’t get much of a break Friday as they attempt to establish a rare run of good play at home.  Ryan Vogelsong will face 15-game winner Wily Peralta of Milwaukee at 7:15pm.