This Lincecum outing won't sway many voters
Henry Schulman - San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate)Maybe some were watching the Republican National Convention, or "Big Brother 10," or the Food Network, or anything that would avert their eyes from the baseball highlights, which did not portray Lincecum in an award-winning light.
Lincecum allowed five runs in the fourth inning to stake Colorado to a 5-0 lead. But he did not lose. Lincecum remained 15-3 after an offense that has let him down at times became his best friend and tied the game, with Omar Vizquel driving in three of the five runs that got Lincecum a precious no-decision.
The Giants could not get a precious victory, however, as they lost 6-5 in 12 innings and fell to 0-5 on a trip that ends today.
The Rockies scored the winning run on Ryan Spilborghs' one-out single off Brian Wilson, who was summoned after two Rockies reached base against losing pitcher Keiichi Yabu.
"It was nice to come back and not let Timmy hanging like that with a loss," Vizquel said. "If there was one thing I feel happy about today, it was that."
Vizquel put the Giants on the board with a two-run double in the fifth inning against Livan Hernandez and tied the game with a single in the sixth, capping his first multi-RBI game of the year. Emmanuel Burriss contributed a two-run single and a diving catch in the eighth that temporarily saved the game.
Nate Schierholtz, just up from the minors, singled to start the tying rally in the sixth. Rookie reliever Sergio Romo also came up huge with three shutout innings in relief of Lincecum.
Lincecum struck out six in five innings to raise his league-leading total to 216. Even with his ERA rising from 2.43 to 2.60 he retained NL lead by .09 over Jake Peavy.
Lincecum's 132-pitch game six nights earlier did not appear to be a factor, judging from the 95s on the stadium radar gun. He threw 92 pitches Tuesday and said fatigue was not an issue.
"I felt fine," he said. "I still felt I had my stuff. I still had velocity on my fastball."
The five-run inning was a shocker. Only twice this year had Lincecum allowed that many runs in an entire game. Lincecum also matched the worst inning of his career. He had two five-run innings last year, against Pittsburgh and Toronto, which also occurred in the fourth inning.
Four must not be Lincecum's lucky number - or five, for that matter.
The autopsy was simple. Lincecum could not find catcher Bengie Molina's glove. He left pitches up in the zone, and a good-hitting Rockies team capitalized.
"Bengie is setting up outside or inside, and I'm making mistakes down the plate," Lincecum said. "Some of the hits were not great contact, but they were able to put the ball in play. I made mistakes. Mistakes will kill you, and they did today."
Lincecum did not allow a hit before the first four hitters of the fourth reached. Omar Quintanilla, Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe and Chris Iannetta went single, single, double, single.
Toss in a couple of barely wild pitches that Molina could not find and an error by Burriss, whose lackadaisical jog to retrieve a throw that skipped off his glove allowed Hawpe to advance a base, and the Rockies had a 3-0 lead.
Troy Tulowitzki completed the rally with a two-run homer on a hanging changeup. The Giants did not have to pitch to him. First base was open with pitcher Livan Hernandez on deck. But manager Bruce Bochy took a stand with his ace on the hill.
"With Timmy out there, he knows the situation," Bochy said. "I have all the confidence in him to make his pitches. He just made a mistake there."
Lincecum finally ended the 37-pitch inning by getting Hernandez to ground out.
After the 3-hour, 52-minute game, the clubhouse was deadly silent, save for a few expletives here and thrown objects there.
"We still care," Wilson said. "The season is not over with."
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