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08/21/2008 9:00 PM ET
Bumgarner still baffling batters
Stretches scoreless streak to Minor League season-high 34 1/3 innings
By John Torenli / Special to MLB.com
Madison Bumgarner could win the South Atlantic League's pitching Triple Crown. (John M. Setzler Jr./MLB.com)

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Augusta's Madison Bumgarner continues to make it look far too easy in his first professional season.

The 19-year-old left-hander struck out 10 over 6 1/3 innings Thursday to stretch his scoreless streak to a Minor League season-high 34 1/3 frames as the GreenJackets beat the Kannapolis Intimidators, 4-2, at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.

Bumgarner (14-3), the Giants' first-round pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, has already racked up five South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week Awards and earned the circuit's Player of the Month honor in June.

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound southpaw appears headed for even more accolades after his latest performance. He limited the Intimidators to six hits, did not walk a batter and reached double digits in strikeouts for the second consecutive outing and sixth time this season.

"It's not as easy as it looks," Bumgarner said. "I'm probably the least superstitious person who plays baseball, so I've been doing a little something different every time. I know about the streak and I don't want to give up a run. I'd like to keep it going the rest of the season."

Bumgarner, who fanned a career-high 12 against Lexington on Friday, retired the first seven batters he faced before Sergio Morales delivered a single to left field with one out in the third. Oney Guillen followed with a base hit, but Bumgarner got the next two outs to keep his streak intact.

After striking out the side in the fourth, Bumgarner yielded a leadoff double to Brent Morel in the fifth, but again escaped further trouble by setting down the next three batters.

Kannapolis finally appeared poised to break through in the sixth as Eduardo Escobar led off with a single and took third on Jordan Danks' double. But Bumgarner was up to the task, fanning Gordon Beckham and Mark Fleisher before Jim Gallagher flied out to right field.

"I just had to bear down and the defense made the plays so I could get out of it without giving up any runs," he said.

Morel singled to start the seventh, but Bumgarner caught Matt Inouye looking at a called third strike before being replaced by Andrew De La Garza, who promptly struck out Morales and Guillen to preserve the streak.

Bumgarner, who improved to 5-0 during his scoreless run, is in line to win the Sally's pitching Triple Crown with league highs of 14 victories, 155 strikeouts and a Minor League-best 1.45 ERA after 23 starts.

"That's pretty incredible," Bumgarner said. "I didn't even know about [the Triple Crown] till last week. That's a blessing to have a chance to do that."

The North Carolina native hasn't been scored upon since yielding three runs on five hits over seven innings against Lake County on June 22.

"This has been unbelievable," said Bumgarner, who expects to make at least one more regular-season start. "I really didn't know what to expect [this year], but I definitely didn't expect to do this good. Everybody here has been a positive influence on me. They've been playing a lot longer than I have."

Fleisher finally got the Intimidators on the board with a two-run homer, his 14th, off De La Garza in the eighth, but David Mixon struck out one in a perfect ninth for his fifth save as the Southern Division-leading GreenJackets (40-19) won for the seventh time in their last eight games.

Angel Villalona went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI and Andrew Davis drove in a pair of runs for Augusta, which boasts the league's top team ERA at 3.02.

Kannapolis starter Jason Rice (8-8) surrendered four runs -- two earned -- on seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts over six innings.

Morales finished 2-for-4 with a double for the Intimidators (30-27).

John Torenli is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.