Starter tallies seven shutout innings; Rowand blasts first homer
Nate Latsch - Special to MLB.com
The St. Louis Cardinals will be happy not to see Tim Lincecum again for the rest of the season.
The San Francisco Giants right-hander struck out 11 Cardinals in his last start and on Saturday afternoon tossed seven shutout innings against St. Louis as the Giants defeated the Cardinals, 3-0, at Busch Stadium.
"He really pitched well," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He used all his pitches today very well. He did a great job getting out of jams. He pitched very well in traffic today. He had to go through some tough hitters at times. Seven shutout innings against this ballclub is very good. It's an impressive job."
San Francisco (7-11) snapped a three-game losing streak.
"When Timmy's throwing, the way he competes, he just picks up the ballclub," Bochy said. "We needed somebody to stop the skid we were in and that's what it takes, somebody to go out on the mound and pitch the way he did."
In his last start, against the Cardinals on Sunday, Lincecum struck out 11 in six innings as he allowed two runs on six hits.
On Saturday, Lincecum (3-0) scattered six hits over seven innings, striking out five and walking three. Of his 95 pitches, 60 were strikes. He lowered his ERA from 2.25 to 1.57.
"Those guys were swinging early," Lincecum said. "I had to try to take advantage of it by keeping balls down in the zone and just trying to utilize all my other pitches, especially my changeup and my slider and then also my curveball later. My guys played great defense behind me, turning three double plays, so I can't ask for much more than that."
Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick said that Lincecum reminded him of a young Roy Oswalt. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said Lincecum was outstanding.
"You look at what he did to get guys out and you just have to tip your cap to him," La Russa said.
The biggest moment of the game came in the fourth inning.
The Cardinals (12-6) had runners on first and second with no outs and first baseman Albert Pujols up. After throwing three straight balls, Lincecum threw a fastball away for strike one, a curveball down the middle for strike two and then a hard curveball in the dirt that Pujols waved at for strike three.
Even though the runners advanced on a double steal on the strikeout, the second-year hurler struck out the next batter, Rick Ankiel, and then got Adam Kennedy to ground out to shortstop to end the inning.
"Both my slider that I developed this year and my changeup have helped me out tremendously," Lincecum said. "I went from a two-pitch guy coming up to a four-pitch guy now. I'm getting more comfortable with those pitches and they are just helping me get out of big situations."
The sequence showed how much Lincecum has matured as he approaches the one-year anniversary of being called up.
"I think he's doing a better job of pitching," Bochy said. "Early, he used to power his way through lineups. Now he's pitching, he's throwing any pitch in any count. He has the confidence to do that. He's learned the hitters. He picks this up fast. He makes adjustments out there and that's what you need to do up here. He's already shown that at an early age."
"He threw the ball great today and he battled through some rough innings," Giants center fielder Aaron Rowand said. "It's a character and confidence builder. He made his pitches when he needed to. That's the sign of a good pitcher. And he's going to get better."
The Giants gave their young right-hander just enough offense.
San Francisco jumped ahead early with a run in the third when third baseman Jose Castillo scored shortstop Brian Bocock with a double off Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro into the left-center-field gap.
Rowand made it 2-0 in the fourth with a solo home run to left field. It was the first homer of the season for Rowand, who signed a five-year, $60 million deal with the Giants in December and has been battling some nagging injuries so far this season.
"I'm definitely feeling better," Rowand said. "I'm still battling this groin thing a little bit. My ribs are feeling a lot better. It's always nice to feel like you can go out and be healthy and play. But in this game of baseball you're not going to be healthy all the time."
Rowand added a run in the sixth with a two-out RBI single to left.
"I think he's healthy and it showed," Bochy said. "This game is hard enough to play when you're not 100 percent. He's such a warrior and he wanted to keep grinding it out and now he's coming around. He's a big part of this club. He'll be a guy we're counting on. Today and yesterday, you could tell a difference with how he's swinging."
The Giants got two scoreless innings from the bullpen to close out the game.
Left-hander Jack Taschner retired two batters in the eighth, and righty Tyler Walker came in and got out Pujols for the third out. In the ninth, closer Brian Wilson worked around a leadoff single to earn his fifth save in six chances.
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