Tonight was the night the San Francisco Giants were to turn around their month long slide, get hot at the plate and start the charge heading to a possible playoff berth. Instead they were blanked by the Chicago Cubs' Randy Wells while Tim Lincecum got the boot after some mistakes, eventually falling by the score of 7-0 at AT&T Park.
Lincecum (L 12-11) was cruising along until the fifth when he hung a slider that Alfonso Soriano sent soaring into the night sky for his 23rd bomb of the season, followed by a lead off homer to Giovanni Soto in the top of the seventh. Timmy would then walk the pitcher Randy Wells while Starlin Castro reached on a Orlando Cabrera error, setting the stage for Blake DeWitt's three run bomb that would knock Lincecum out of the game. He left after six innings of work, with six hits, four walks, and four strikeouts to his name. It was the first time in Lincecum's career he had given up three home runs in a game.
As for the Cubs' Randy Wells (W 6-4), he was brilliant in his two hit, complete game shutout, giving up only an Andres Torres double and a Mike Fontenot pinch-hit single along the way. He walked only one while fanning seven, throwing 113 pitches, 76 of which for strikes.
With the loss the Giants move to 71-64 on the year, now 5 full games behind Arizona in the NL West. Full box score can be found here.
San Francisco will send out Ryan Vogelsong (10-4 2.54 ERA) on Tuesday to take on Matt Garza (6-10 3.68 ERA) for the Cubs. First pitch is set for 7:15 pm PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.