MercuryNews
The surprises began when Giants bench coach Ron Wotus posted an unconventional lineup that had pitcher Tim Lincecum batting eighth.
It only got stranger from there in an 8-7 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night.
For the second consecutive start, Lincecum was erratic while tying a career high with five walks. For the second consecutive game, the Giants pitched at the belt as the Diamondbacks lashed a series of extra-base hits.
Arizona scored the tiebreaking run on Jeremy Affeldt's wild pitch in the eighth inning, then it all boiled over in the ninth.
With two outs and the tying run at first base, plate umpire Mark Wegner ejected Giants manager Bruce Bochy after he argued a called first strike against Juan Uribe.
"It was a buildup of things," Bochy said. "It gets frustrating after awhile."
Uribe struck out swinging to end it, then had to be restrained by first-base coach Roberto Kelly.
"He said the pitch was down the middle," Uribe said. "I tell him, 'Say it's a good pitch but don't tell me it's down the middle. I know when a guy throws a pitch down the middle.' "
The Giants threw plenty of those while getting swept in this two-game series. Of Arizona's 20 hits, 16 went for extra bases.
"We pitched up in this series," Bochy said. "We had trouble getting the ball down and throwing quality strikes."
Even their ace wasn't immune.
Lincecum entered with a 5-0 record, 1.76 ERA and major-league-leading 69 strikeouts, all flashy numbers that belied the constant battle he's been waging to find rhythm on the mound. He could hide his issues for only so long. He skirted a walk in each of his first three innings, but a head-on collision arrived in a five-run fifth. He walked two more, and both scored — one on Stephen Drew's tying, two-run triple, the other on Mark Reynolds' two-run homer that landed in the upper deck. "It all has to do with your mindset," Lincecum said. "Be positive you'll throw strikes and be confident in all your pitches. I'm not saying I don't have that right now. They're just not going where I want them to go and it's definitely costing me." Lincecum escaped the inning with his 100th pitch, and with his spot due up third in the sixth, it was automatic that he'd leave for a pinch hitter as the Giants trailed 5-2. The Giants did better than take Lincecum off the hook. They scored five runs in the sixth to put him in line for a victory. Uribe hit a leadoff homer, John Bowker made it back-to-back shots, and pinch hitter Travis Ishikawa scored the tying run on Freddy Sanchez's sacrifice fly. Aubrey Huff's two-run double gave the Giants a 7-5 lead. The Diamondbacks tied it against Dan Runzler and Guillermo Mota in the seventh, then used moxie on the basepaths to take the lead against Affeldt in the eighth. Earlier in the inning, Justin Upton's hard slide disrupted Uribe from turning a double play. Affeldt's curveball in the dirt scored Conor Jackson; the left-hander struck out Reynolds with the next pitch. "It was the same pitch — one too late," Affeldt said. "They broke up the double play when they needed to and they took home plate. That's all she wrote." The story would've been different had the Giants won behind a suddenly productive lineup. For the first time in anyone's memory, the Giants batted the pitcher eighth. Andres Torres hit ninth. "I don't know what the game's coming to," said Bochy, smirking before the game. Bochy said he didn't anticipate batting the pitcher eighth often, but the stars aligned this time. "I wanted to get Freddy Sanchez back in the No. 2 hole where he's comfortable," Bochy said. "And if there's ever a game it would make sense, it's today. Andres Torres gives us another speed guy in front of the 3-4-5 hitters. Timmy handles the bat well. Torres can run a little bit. And it changes things up." Bochy added that Torres would continue to hit ninth this weekend — when the Giants have a designated hitter for their interleague series at Oakland.
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