Lincecum earns landmark win

Henry Schulman - San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate)

The Giants had a seven-run inning and smacked 15 hits, while the Nationals got next to zilch.

Must have been a Tim Lincecum game.

Must have been on the road.

In Friday night's 10-1 victory, Lincecum allowed a run in seven innings and became the first Giant in 15 years to start a season 8-1, matching Bud Black and John Burkett from 1993. Also, the team continued to have more fun away from home than Hunter S. Thompson ever did.

Freed from the shackles of their yard, where they have lost nine of their last 11 games, the Giants played at Nationals Park for the first time and won for the seventh time in their last 10 road games. Maybe as a promotion the Giants should fly their loyal fans to the next away series.

Players are at a loss to explain why, although Lincecum tried.

"Maybe it's our unconscious thought that we want to play good baseball on the road because the road is a big deal," he said. "Maybe we just take the games at home for granted sometimes. ... Everyone in here is playing with a sense of urgency. We want to get the job done. We've just been able to do it on the road better."

Giants hitters are supposed to fare better away from cavernous and fogbound China Basin. With Ray Durham's three hits leading an offensive conga line that included Jose Castillo's three-run homer, the Giants indeed took to the heat and humidity well.

But even Lincecum does better on the road (6-0, 1.65 ERA) than at home (2-1, 2.70).

Although he allowed five hits in seven innings, truth is the Nats did not have a chance on a night Lincecum tried to pitch to contact so he could get quick outs in the heat. He walked none and struck out five. Until Lastings Milledge's two-out, broken-bat single in the fourth, one could not watch Lincecum against Washington's static lineup and discount the possibility of a no-hitter.

"Every time this kid takes the mound you never know," manager Bruce Bochy said. "That's how good he is."

Nats starter Jason Bergmann has pitched well since a recent call-up from Triple-A. He had a 20-inning scoreless streak snapped last time out against Arizona. But the Giants snapped him out of the game with their seven-run third.

Randy Winn launched it with a single, followed by a perfect hit-and-run single by Bengie Molina. Durham, a late addition to the lineup after declaring his calf pain-free, drove in a run with a one-out single to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. But the inning became big when, with two outs, Lincecum laid off a barely high-and-outside 3-2 fastball and walked with the bases loaded.

Fred Lewis then hit a two-run single to right before Castillo capped the rally with his fifth home run, a three-run rainbow to right that made it 8-0.

Bergmann thought the 3-2 pitch to Lincecum was a strike. Lincecum did, too, saying, "I was in the dugout after the inning and I said, 'Did that look like a strike to you?' I thought it was right down the middle. I don't have that good strike-zone awareness when I'm up at the plate."

But as Nats manager Manny Acta said, "Close enough is not a strike."

When Lincecum finished five innings at 48 pitches, his first career complete game was a possibility. But Bochy pulled him after seven innings and 83 pitches to preserve him for his next start.

Also leaving early was Aaron Rowand, who felt a twinge in his right quadriceps, near his hip, while running to catch a long Milledge flyball in the sixth inning. He is day to day. Omar Vizquel gave way to Emmanuel Burriss, the D.C. native who got a big cheer when he was announced and a bigger one when he lined a single to left in his lone at-bat.

Burriss had about 45 friends and relatives in the park and said he thought as he ran to first, "Thank God. That's all I thought. Thank God. It's always great to have so much support, and I want to show them I can play. A base hit for me is a ton of success."