Henry Schulman SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
The Giants took a risk waiting for a bus to the airport Sunday. They should have commandeered the first barge they saw and floated down the Ohio River to Cincinnati before anyone could take away their 6-5, 10-inning victory.
They stranded 14 runners and Brian Wilson took his second blown save this year when Ronny Cedeno broke an 0-for-20 slide with a two-out single in the ninth and Delwyn Young tied it with a pinch home run.
The Giants, who had gone ahead with two runs in the ninth, retook the lead in the 10th on Andres Torres' leadoff double, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Freddy Sanchez. When Wilson put two more runners on in the 10th, manager Bruce Bochy removed him with a lead, a rarity, and watched Santiago Casilla save it in four pitches.
"Did we win?" Bochy asked with a smile after a reporter asked a question that included the word "defibrillator."
The Giants not only won the game, they captured their third road series of the season. Beyond that, this might be remembered as the day Tim Lincecum took a giant step forward.
Lincecum allowed three runs in seven innings, ending a string of three starts in which he failed to complete six innings. After walking five in each of his previous four starts, he walked two in this 113-pitch no-decision.
"I think he's pretty close to being back to the Timmy we all know," catcher Bengie Molina said.
The best sign for Lincecum was his ability to get a strikeout, or at least a weak groundball with the infield in, when he needed to strand a runner on third base with less than two outs. That arrow had been missing from his quiver.
Lincecum said he took the mound with a confidence built on learning from each pitch he threw in recent games and bullpen sessions.
"I felt the confidence to throw any pitch at any time," Lincecum said. "I wasn't second-guessing myself worrying I couldn't throw a certain pitch because it was off."
The Giants used a gift, an error on Pablo Sandoval's groundball, to launch their two-run rally in the ninth and take a 5-3 lead against Javier Lopez. Juan Uribe hit an RBI double and Pat Burrell a pinch sacrifice fly.
After Wilson blew the save with the first homer he has allowed in 2010, Andres Torres lined a leadoff double to right in the 10th against Octavio Dotel and scored on the sac fly by Sanchez, who had a tremendous series in his return to Pittsburgh. He was 7-for-13 with two doubles, the sac fly and four runs.
When Bochy removed Wilson following a one-out single by Ryan Doumit and a walk to Garrett Jones, who hit a two-run homer against Lincecum, the closer seemed agitated. He paced around the mound and took a couple of steps toward the dugout before Bochy reached the mound, generally a no-no.
But Wilson said, "I wasn't upset at all. The manager made the right move. Anytime the manager comes out he's making the right move."
Casilla, who has impressed the team with his blazing stuff, made a nice play to retire Lastings Milledge on a first-pitch dribbler, then struck out Jeff Clement on three pitches to earn his first save since 2008 with the A's.
Casilla admitted he was surprised to enter with a lead, saying, "I say (to Wilson), 'You're unbelievable,' because he's got everything, a good fastball, good slider. Mistakes like that happen. He's the best.'"
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