The San Francisco Giants continued to alternate wins and losses as they were roughed up by the Cincinnati Reds 10-2 on Saturday afternoon. The regional Fox game of the week saw Tim Lincecum equal his career high with seven earned runs allowed. Although he’s had shorter outings, Lincecum struggled all game long finishing with a career low one strikeout.
Things started out alright for Lincecum as he struck out Drew Stubbs to start the game and got a 1-2-3 first inning. However, his struggles began in the second as a wild pitch eventually led to a Fred Lewis run scored. The Reds added two more in the third inning and then sent Lincecum to the showers in the fifth inning with a four run inning.
It’s interesting to note that in four starts since Buster Posey went on the DL, Lincecum has a 7.66 ERA having given up 19 earned runs in 22 2/3 innings. He also threw 133 pitches in the last Posey outing so I’d imagine some folks might point to the high pitch total. It’s notable given that he rarely gets into the 130s, but I doubt it’s the reason for his recent struggles. Losing his primary catcher seems to be a more logical explanation. Of course, now he needs to figure out how to adjust to having a new regular catcher since Posey likely won’t be back in 2011.
The Giants wrap up their series with the Reds on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. First pitch will be at 5:05pm pacific with a matchup of Jonathan Sanchez and Edinson Volquez