SAN FRANCISCO -- Tim Lincecum, who's widely regarded as the Giants' ace, has inadvertently strengthened his grip on a dual distinction: hard-luck pitcher.
The Giants have been shut out eight times in Lincecum's 21 starts this season. He endured this fate most recently Wednesday, when the Los Angeles Dodgers handed him his first career 1-0 defeat.
Dioner Navarro's seventh-inning leadoff homer denied the Giants a three-game series sweep and prevented them from extending their winning streak against the Dodgers to seven games for the first time since the franchises moved west in 1958.
With Clayton Kershaw pitching, a single run was all Los Angeles needed. Kershaw's 1.41 ERA against the Giants is the lowest ever by any pitcher who has accumulated at least 50 innings against them. The All-Star left-hander allowed three hits in eight innings and struck out the side in the sixth and eighth innings en route to finishing with 12 strikeouts.
San Francisco moved four runners into scoring position against Kershaw -- all but one resulting from errors and never with less than two outs. In short, the Giants didn't generate much genuine offense.
Nor did the Dodgers. They went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-9 off Lincecum, who allowed five hits and struck out seven in seven innings. The Giants are accustomed to winning when Lincecum performs so stubbornly. Instead, they, and he, are increasingly sharing the frustration that at various times seemed exclusive to Matt Cain, Barry Zito and Madison Bumgarner.
"It [stinks] to have Tim lose a game where he gives up one run and goes that deep in the game," infielder Emmanuel Burriss said. "He pitched wonderful. It's heartbreaking for everybody in here to know that we didn't come through for him. He did a great job. He didn't deserve to get a loss today. But neither did Kershaw."
Kershaw might have faced more of a challenge had the Giants' lineup been at full strength. But third baseman Pablo Sandoval was nursing a sore right quadriceps muscle and didn't start. Nate Schierholtz, who recently has emerged as San Francisco's cleanup hitter, also was rested. Schierholtz bats left-handed, and Kershaw had limited opposing lefties to a .181 batting average entering the game. Not surprisingly, when Schierholtz pinch-hit against Kershaw in the eighth inning, he lined a vicious foul ball while working the count full before striking out.
This game mirrored Opening Night at Dodger Stadium, where both protagonists lasted seven taut innings. Lincecum yielded an unearned run while Kershaw blanked San Francisco. Los Angeles ultimately won, 2-1.
"I try to pitch a good game whenever I get the ball," Kershaw said. "If you want to write a cool story about the matchup, go ahead."
Lincecum sounded as if he were discussing himself in praising Kershaw.
"Clayton's ridiculously good," Lincecum said. "I don't think he's reached his potential, just from watching him. He's mixing up different pitches. Sometimes he'll come at us with a 90-mile-an-hour slider, like the last time I faced him. This time he was using an 83-mile-an-hour pitch. You can never really get the same gauge off of what he's going to throw. He's got that really live, power fastball that carries well through the zone. It makes it hard to make good contact off of him."
Burriss singled sharply off Kershaw (11-4) in the second inning, but that was the extent of his success.
"The last thing you want to do is get him in a rhythm, which he found kind of early, it seemed like," Burriss said.
Chris Stewart had San Francisco's other two hits but remained modest about his achievement.
"I think he just hit my bat two times and the ball just fell in," Stewart said.
Stewart had a front-row seat as Navarro, who had never faced Lincecum before this game, drove a 1-0 fastball over the right-field wall and into San Francisco Bay for his third home run of the season.
The fateful pitch to Navarro, who was batting .195 at the time, was supposed to be low and outside.
"We thought we'd change his eye level a little bit," Stewart said, noting that the previous pitch was a curveball.
"It was just a mistake," Lincecum said. "Enough said, I guess."
Though the Giants had three more at-bats, Navarro's drive generated a sense of finality, given Kershaw's dominance.
"You know it's going to be a close game, so you have to be on top of yours, and I flinched first, so ... rough," Lincecum said.
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