SAN FRANCISCO — Right-hander Livan Hernandez wanted to be perfect.

But he couldn't.

So he decided to just be who he is.

And that wasn't too bad.

Oh, it wasn't good enough for the Rockies to finish a sweep of the Giants at AT&T Park on Wednesday night and add to the pressure they have been applying to the teams in front of them in the National League West.

But Hernandez was far from the culprit in the Rockies' 4-1 loss that kept them six games behind division-leading Arizona with 27 games to play.

That's the same deficit the Rockies faced in the wild-card race last year when they rallied in September to make the playoffs, then won their first pennant.

Second-place Los Angeles also lost, keeping the Dodgers three games ahead of the Rockies.

Matched against the dominating Tim Lincecum, Hernandez took a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning only to see Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval unload home runs on back-to-back pitches with one out to put the Giants on top 2-1 and put an end to Hernandez's night.

The Giants added two runs off reliever Luis Vizcaino in an eighth inning in which he was betrayed by sloppy bunt defense.

Third baseman Ian Stewart made a bad decision to try for a forceout he couldn't get on one play, and first baseman Garrett Atkins threw the ball down the right-field line on the next.

And the Rockies were unable to come up with anything offensively after Troy Tulowitzki singled home Chris Iannetta, who had doubled, with the game's initial run in the second inning.

Given the lateness of the season, the Rockies have little room for moral victories, but to see Hernandez rebound with a solid effort after he gave up 21 earned runs in 121/3 innings in his first three starts with the Rockies was a definite boost.

"We had seen him good before, and we wanted to see that Livan," manager Clint Hurdle said. "It was a good outing for him."

There was a brief scare in the bottom of the sixth when Dave Roberts unloaded a shot to right- center field that went off the glove of right fielder Brad Hawpe for a triple.

But Willy Taveras was able to throw out Roberts at the plate when Roberts attempted to score on Fred Lewis' ensuing flyball.

But Hurdle didn't hesitate sending Hernandez back out for the seventh after letting him fly out to right field to end the top of the inning.

"If we had a runner in scoring position, we would have hit for him, but that said, he's not a rookie," Hurdle said.

"He has pitched in big games before. He's an experienced pitcher."

And that is why the Rockies gambled roughly $1.5 million in claiming Hernandez on waivers from Minnesota.

It certainly wasn't for a pitcher who had given up five earned runs in each of his final two starts with the Twins, then nine runs in his Rockies debut and six runs in each of the next two starts.

If there were any doubts, they were cleared in a closed-door session between Hurdle and Hernandez.

"I had people call me and the manager tell me, I just needed to pitch like I can pitch," Hernandez said.

"They told me I didn't have to be perfect. I have 11 years in the big leagues. I know what I'm supposed to do."

But Hernandez hadn't been doing it, until Wednesday, when he suddenly broke out an assortment of pitches that included quality strikes and range in velocity all the way down to a slow curve that registered 64 mph a couple of times.

"When you go to a new team, you want to go out and be perfect, to show people what you can do," Hernandez said.

"You want to make your new team happy that you are with them. But nobody is perfect. What I had to do was pitch the way I pitch."

Good as that was, it wasn't quite enough against Lincecum, who is 15-3 and has allowed two runs or fewer in seven consecutive starts and has allowed three runs or fewer in 24 of his 28 starts this season.

But he finally left with two out in the eighth, and Brian Wilson was able to finish off things.

Wilson got the final four outs to increase his NL-leading saves total to 36, the fifth one in which he worked more than one inning.