Tim Lincecum has rarely had much trouble with the St. Louis Cardinals in his career thus far, and was looking to continue that tradition. But Timmy and the San Francisco Giants found themselves in a back-and-forth matchup at Busch Stadium tonight as Nate Schierholtz played hero not once but twice, leading to a dramatic 7-5 Giants win in 11 innings.
Lincecum allowed 10 hits to the Red Birds, capped by an Allen Craig pinch hit two run homer in the seventh to give St. Louis the lead, the first pinch hit homer ever given up by Lincecum in his career. The rest of the Cards’ runs came off of a pair of RBI singles and an unfortunate wild pitch by Timmy in the fourth. Lincecum still managed to ring up 9 Cards in his six and 1/3 innings of work, and finished without a walk.
The Giants knocked Jake Westbrook out of the game in the sixth, plating three runs off an RBI double from Cody Ross, an Eli Whiteside sacrifice fly, and an Andres Torres RBI double. Aubrey Huff launched his fifth homer of the season in the seventh, and the Giants tied up the game in the ninth off a Nate Schierholtz RBI single.
Then in the top of the 11th Nate Schierholtz was at it again, slapping an RBI double to right field to give the Giants the lead 6-5. Brandon Crawford followed it up with an RBI single to left to give the G-Men some extra insurance. Brian Wilson came in for the bottom of the inning, earning his 15th save of the year despite a bizarre twenty minute delay when a bank of lights went out in the stadium.
Full box score can be found here.
The Giants will conclude their series in St. Louis Thursday as Jonathan Sanchez (3-3 3.38 ERA) will take the mound to face Cardinals’ Lance Lynn in his first start of the season for the Red Birds. First pitch is set for 5:15 p.m. PT tomorrow with coverage on CSN Bay Area, MLB Network, and KNBR 680 AM.