Lincecum wins his 12th as Giants defeat Braves 3-2

Andrew Baggarly - MercuryNews

Who says the Giants have nothing to shoot for over the last two months?

There are Cy Young Awards out there for the taking, and Tim Lincecum's candidacy is getting healthier by the day.

Lincecum sparkled over eight innings, Aaron Rowand hit a two-run home run and Randy Winn contributed a four-hit afternoon as the Giants beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 today.

Lincecum (12-3) struck out the side in the eighth inning. Then he turned the game over to closer Brian Wilson, who pitched a stress-free ninth to record his National League-leading 31st save and 23rd in a row.

Lincecum hadn't won in three starts, which is an eternity for him. But he had left with the lead in his two previous outings (racking up 24 strikeouts over 14 innings) only to watch the bullpen blow his victory in the eighth each time.

This time, Lincecum induced a few quick, contact outs to hold down his pitch count and give him a chance to pitch beyond the seventh. He faced Atlanta's 3-4-5 hitters in the eighth and dominated them all, striking out Casey Kotchman and Brian McCann on breaking balls.

But any chance at his first complete game was lost when it took 10 pitches to strike out Omar Infante. The Braves third baseman fouled off four fastballs with two strikes - most of them hitting 95 mph - before swinging through a breaking pitch to end the inning.

Lincecum descended the dugout steps to high-fives and hugs, his pitch count at 117.

Rowand connected against left-hander Chuck James for his 10th home run of the season, becoming the first Giants player to reach double-digits. Winn had singled ahead of Rowand's homer.

Winn had four singles, passing 1,500 career hits along the way. It was the fifth time in eight games that Winn registered multiple hits. He is batting .393 over that span.

Winn advanced on a sacrifice and a balk before scoring on Rowand's sacrifice fly in the third inning.

The Giants wasted chances to pad their lead, though. Fred Lewis led off the sixth inning with a triple but was thrown out on an ill-advised attempt to tag up and score against cannon-armed right fielder Jeff Francoeur.

Bengie Molina killed rallies with double-play grounders in the fifth and seventh.

The Giants were denied a run on an apparent blown call with two out in the eighth. Lewis was on third when Emmanuel Burriss hit a ball deep in the hole to shortstop Yunel Escobar. Replays appeared to show that Burriss beat the play, but umpire Kerwin Danley called him out.