After an out of the ordinary offensive showcase for the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, it was back to reality Wednesday as Tim Lincecum and the Cubs’ Ryan Dempster were locked into a scoreless pitcher’s duel for seven full innings. But the Cubbies finally came through, and eventually walked off with an Aramis Ramirez single in the bottom of the ninth, earning a 2-1 win at Wrigley Field.
Lincecum pitched seven full innings, allowing only five hits and one earned run, a Blake Dewitt RBI single in the seventh. Timmy gave up two walks while fanning nine during his outing, but had 113 pitches, causing him to come out earlier than he likely could have lasted. But the struggles the Freak had earlier in June seem to be long gone by now.
Ryan Dempster was dealing as well, throwing only 83 pitches in his eight innings of work, a breath of fresh air for the Cubs after their bullpen heavy games on Tuesday. Dempster allowed only three hits with six strikeouts, and didn’t walk a single batter.
The Giants weren’t going down without a fight though as Pat Burrell hit a leadoff double to begin the top of the ninth. Emmanuel Burriss plated him with an RBI single to tie the game, then loaded the bases with an Aubrey Huff single and a walk to Pablo Sandoval. Cody Ross hit into a double play to end the rally.
Sergio Romo (L 3-1) took his first loss of the year with his work in the ninth, while Carlos Marmol (W 2-2) took the win for the Cubs.
With the loss the Giants move to 46-35 on the year, effectively ending their season-high seven game win streak. Full box score can be found here.
The Giants will finish up their series with the Cubbies Thursday as Matt Cain (7-4 3.22 ERA) takes the mound to face Carlos Zambrano (6-4 4.38 ERA) for Chicago. First pitch is at 11:20 a.m. PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
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