San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Tim Lincecum shut out the Mets, becoming the second-fastest Giants pitcher to win 50 games, as San Francisco posted a 2-0 victory in the opener of a four-game set at AT&T Park.
It took the hard-throwing right-hander 109 games to reach the 50-win plateau, second in club annuals to Juan Marichal, who accomplished the feat in 97 pitching appearances.
Lincecum (10-4) scattered six hits with five strikeouts and one walk on his 26th birthday. Buster Posey went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI and Pablo Sandoval drove in a run for the Giants, who have won three straight and seven of eight overall.
R.A. Dickey (6-3) was stellar in defeat, yielding just the one run on five hits with three strikeouts and one walk over seven frames.
Carlos Beltran returned to the lineup, batted in the cleanup spot and finished 1-for-4. He returned from the 60-day disabled list and played his first game of the 2010 season after undergoing knee surgery back in January. No Met had more than one hit as the club lost for the fourth time in five games.
The Giants pushed across a run in the second as Posey led off with a single to right, moved to second on a groundout, scampered to third on a wild pitch and walked home on Sandoval's two-out double.
New York threatened in the fifth as Jason Bay walked and Josh Thole singled to center. After a Ruben Tejada flyout, Dickey moved both runners on a sacrifice bunt, but Angel Pagan skied a shallow fly ball to right to end the threat.
The Giants tried to make something happen on the basepaths in the home sixth as Aubrey Huff singled and Posey followed with a base hit to left. Huff tried to take third on the play, but overslid the bag and David Wright applied the tag for the out to snuff out the threat.
San Francisco added an insurance run in the eighth as Lincecum helped himself with a single before Aaron Rowand's base hit. Freddy Sanchez's bunt was not soft enough, allowing the Mets to erase the pitcher running to third. Huff walked to load the bases and new pitcher Bobby Parnell induced a slow roller to first off the bat of Posey. It was so slow, however, that Ike Davis' throw home to nab Rowand was late for a 2-0 game.
Lincecum last pitched on July 7, when he struck out 10 batters and gave up one run in seven sharp innings during a victory over Milwaukee. The right-hander picked up his first victory against the Mets...New York won two-of-three meetings with the Giants may in early May...The Giants improved to 13-6 versus the National League East...Lincecum threw his seventh career complete game and fourth career shutout.