It was a bit of a muggy and rainy night at Sun Life stadium this evening as the San Francisco Giants sent their ace to the mound to try and turn their ship around. Luckily for the G-Men Tim Lincecum was brilliant, the bullpen was solid, and the Giants topped the Florida Marlins by a score of 3-0.
Lincecum (W 11-9) held the Fish to only two hits in his seven innings of work tonight, striking out 10 while walking three. Timmy threw 14 first pitch strikes to the 27 batters he faced, and was in control of the strike zone the majority of his outing, especially with the fastball. Jeremy Affeldt would relieve Lincecum with a perfect eighth inning, followed by Brian Wilson in the ninth. In true ninja fashion he had to make it interesting, allowing a single then walking another Marlin, but eventually closed out his 35th save of the year.
Jeff Keppinger hit his first homer as a Giant in the first, his fifth of the season, extending the Giants solo homer streak to 21 straight. Nate Schierholtz would score on a Javier Vasquez wild pitch in the fifth, followed by an Aubrey Huff RBI double in the sixth. Cody Ross and Aaron Rowand both went 1-4 while Pablo Sandoval went 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
Javier Vasquez (L 7-10) pitched well in his seven innings as well, also striking out 10 batters while giving up five hits and no walks. Vasquez threw only 88 pitches compared to Lincecum's 119 in their respective seven innings pitched.
With the win the Giants move to 65-55 on the year. Full box score can be found here.
The Black and Orange will go for their first series win in their last four Sunday as Ryan Vogelsong (9-2 2.48 ERA) takes the hill to face Clay Hensley (1-4 4.50 ERA) for the Marlins. First pitch is set for 10:10 am PT tomorrow with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM. Have some Sunday breakfast with the Giants tomorrow!