Lincecum finds groove, Giants end losing streak

Henry Schulman - San Francisco Chronicle

"Nice day," someone said to Tyler Walker as the Giants came out for stretching.
"New day," Walker responded, and he was right.

The Giants ended their six-game losing streak by beating the Rockies 6-5 Tuesday night, with Tim Lincecum scoring the win and Brian Wilson the teeth-chattering save. Keiichi Yabu and Walker preserved a one-run lead in the seventh and eighth innings after manager Bruce Bochy convened the beleaguered bullpen for a pregame meeting to lift the relievers' spirits and demand that they pitch smarter.

After the Giants scored twice in the ninth to take a 6-3 lead, Wilson allowed a two-out, two-run homer by Clint Barmes. Matt Holliday came within 3 feet of tying the game with a blast off the right-field wall for a double. But after Todd Helton was intentionally walked, putting the potential winning run on board, Wilson struck out Garrett Atkins on a 96 mph cut fastball to slay the losing streak.

"A win is a win is a win is a win," Walker said after the Giants endured a loss and a loss and a loss and a loss and a loss and a loss.

Bochy moved into 50th place all-time with his 1,040th major-league managerial win. They were not all gut-busters like this one. It only seems that way.

"You're hoping to have an easy three-up, three-down" ninth, he said, "but Willie has a way of keeping you on the edge of your seat."

After the home run and the scorching double, Wilson knew what he had to do.

"It's taking a deep breath, realizing what's at stake here and making pitches," he said. The relievers have not been making key pitches lately, which is why Bochy summoned them into his office before batting practice.

"This is a good bullpen, but we're making too many mistakes we shouldn't be making with the arms we have," Bochy said. "We need to be smarter with pitch selection and how we attack hitters. I have all the confidence in the world in this bullpen. They're going to be vital with all the close games we play. We've got to make sure we stay positive."

Bochy stuck with Walker even after the setup man allowed 10 runs over his last four outings. Bochy made one change Tuesday, using his long man, Yabu, in the seventh inning with a lead, which will not be a one-time deal.

Wilson said he could not bear to blow the game for Lincecum, now 6-1, 4-0 after Giants losses.

Reporters had asked Bochy if he would allow Lincecum or Matt Cain to throw 130 pitches to get a no-hitter, as Boston did with Jon Lester on Monday night. Bochy said he would.

He still pulled Lincecum after six innings and 113 pitches. Lincecum tightened his pitching after throwing 77 pitches in the first three innings. Colorado looked like a team bent on tying the game, but Lincecum did not let it happen and left with a 4-3 lead after striking out his final two hitters.

Lincecum said he tried too hard to throw strikes, which is one way to throw balls. During one stretch, he went to three-ball counts on seven consecutive hitters, which might be why he said, "In my mind, this was one of my worst outings ever. Yeah, I battled, but I don't want to go through that again."

This was a rematch of Lincecum's only loss, to Colorado and Aaron Cook at China Basin on April 29.

But that was long-haired Timmy. At Coors Field, he was a shorn Timmy. He got a haircut at a place called Floyd's Barber Shop. No joke.

In the top of the first, the umpires had a Barney Fife moment after Randy Winn's two-out double extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

Bengie Molina crushed a ball to left-center that hit the top of the fence and bounced back. Initially it was ruled a homer, then a double. After jogging home, Molina had to return to second base and scored anyway on the first of two Aaron Rowand RBI singles.

The Giants also got RBIs from Omar Vizquel on a suicide squeeze and solo homers by Rich Aurilia, who now co-leads the team with five, and Fred Lewis, who homered in the ninth to pad the Giants' lead.

"Obviously that made the difference in the game," Rowand said. "That's something we've been harping on as a group of late. We haven't been adding on when we jump out to a lead. That's something we need to be doing. That makes a lot of difference in all the one- and two-run games we play."

Comment: Slumping Eugenio Velez is being sent to AAA Fresno and the Giants are recalling Travis Denker....the infielder acquired last season in the Mark Sweeney trade with the Dodgers.