Andrew Baggarly Mercury News
The Giants might be scoring more runs. They might be winning with late-inning heroics. They might be one confident step removed from two roads to the playoffs.
But there is no better confidence builder than the sight of Tim Lincecum whipping through his delivery, striking out another batter and briskly leading his team back into the dugout.
For the second consecutive start, Timmy was business-casual Timmy. And the Giants backed him with plenty of heavy hitting in a 6-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday night.
"It's digging for something extra," said Lincecum, who took a perfect game into the fifth inning and a shutout into the seventh before allowing three runs. "It's time to get wins now. Obviously, we're close. That's my mindset: Put the rest of the season behind me and focus on what I can do."
An efficient Lincecum can do so much for the Giants, both between the lines and between the ears.
"Every playoff team has that guy you count on to shove (the opponent) every day, and it looks like he's getting back to that form," said Aubrey Huff, who hit a two-run home run in the first inning. "It's a great sign. Everybody was making such a big deal out of it when he was struggling. The guy's a two-time Cy Young, man. He's going to battle. It's a perfect time to get it going and carry us the rest of the way."
Lincecum (13-9) isn't the only pitcher carrying the baton. After six innings, the Giants had thrown 31 consecutive without allowing a run -- their longest scoreless streak since May 16-18, 1964. Lincecum struck out 11, but here's the best barometer of his brilliance: he didn't walk a batter. Want to know the last time that happened? Try the April 5 season opener at Houston. Also, his start was just the fourth of his career in which he struck out at least 10 without walking a batter; the last one came April 18, 2009, also against the Diamondbacks. After going 0-5 with a 7.82 ERA in August, Lincecum has notched consecutive victories in September -- the first time he has done that since July 7 and 15. "To me, he pitched as good as he's pitched," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "For six innings, it was pretty impressive. "... The ball was moving -- good stuff, good rhythm, threw quality strikes and threw strike one." Bochy stayed away from using Brian Wilson, meeting after the game with his closer. Wilson had thrown on three consecutive days and five of seven. Meanwhile, the San Diego Padres leaned hard on their closer, Heath Bell, to notch five outs and protect a 2-1 victory over the Dodgers that maintained their one-game lead in the NL West. The Giants also stand just a game out in the wild-card standings behind the Atlanta Braves, who fell out of first place in the NL East. Lincecum struck out the final hitter in each of the first three innings, a snappy and welcome departure from nights in which he labored through walks, deep counts and visible signs of frustration. Bochy said he sensed the confidence spreading as Lincecum maintained his stuff and kept the game moving. "With every starter, but especially with Timmy," Bochy said. "We kept saying he was getting better and better. Now he looks comfortable with where he's at." So did the Giants lineup, which teed off on rookie Barry Enright. The right-hander had a 1.38 ERA in his first two starts against the Giants, but Huff said the club made a vital adjustment this time. "The last couple times, he got ahead 0-1," Huff said. "You want to work the count and see pitches, but that hasn't been successful against him. We had a plan to go out and attack him and it worked out." Andres Torres led off the game with a double, then one out later Huff followed with his first homer since Aug. 23. Freddy Sanchez hit a solo shot in the fifth and Pat Burrell added a two-run homer in the sixth. Lincecum had trouble keeping the ball down in the seventh, when Chris Young hit a two-run shot and Tony Abreu's run-scoring triple brought Bochy to the mound. But Javier Lopez entered with a runner at third base and needed one pitch to get a tapper from Gerardo Parra. Left-handers are 2 for 31 against Lopez since he arrived in a trade in July.
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