The Giants trying to take 3 of 4 from the D-backs in this opening series give the ball to 2-time CY Young award winner Tim Lincecum. Timmy had an up and down season last year highlighted in the summer with a no-hitter against the Padres to add to his resume. The Giants gave him a new contract this off season to keep him in San Francisco and fill the void of the 4 spot in the rotation. Lincecum finished last year with a record of 10-14 with an ERA of 4.37 in 197.2 innings. In his history against the D-backs Timmy has had a tough time dealing with Paul Goldschmidt, who is 10-20 with 5 home runs lifetime off the righty. He has completely owned Lincecum and just isn't fooled by anything he throws.
Giants got off to another fast start as the hot hitting Brandon Belt hit his 3rd homer of the season on a 3-2 curveball that did not fool Belt and caught more plate then Bronson Arroyo probably intended. The D-backs countered in the bottom of the first with yet another home run by Goldschmidt, a two-run shot off Lincecum on a first pitch fastball. Timmy settled down after that, posting 4 shutout innings 2-5 racking up strikeouts with his slider, curveball and nasty split-change. His day was finished after 6 innings, he left down 4-2 and after he gave up another two-run homer, this time to Mark Trumbo. Trumbo homered to the deepest part of Chase Field off of a split change that Timmy hung by mistake, and Trumbo pounced on it. Lincecum had 7 strikeouts and no walks which is definitely a promising sign for the righty in his first start of the season. In the top of the 7th Brandon Hicks hit a pinch hit solo homer to cut the D-backs lead in half off reliever Josh Collmenter. The Giants bullpen kept the game close and allowed the offense to have a chance. In the 8th inning the Giants tied the game with a 2-out rally started by an RBI base hit up the middle by Michael Morse on a hanging curveball by Will Harris on a 2-1 count. The next batter Pagan stepped up and hit a 3-run go ahead homer on a first pitch fastball that Harris wanted to throw inside but leaked over the middle of the plate and Pagan made no mistake and blasted it over the right center field wall. The Giants pen shut it down after that, closed out by Javier Lopez. As a team in this first series of the 2014 campain they have been able to come back late twice by scoring 5 runs in the last three innings in the first game, and scoring 6 runs today in the final three frames. They do not quit, and have been taking advantage of the D-backs bullpen throughout the series. The Giants head out to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers tomorrow night.
San Francisco 8, Arizona 5
W- Machi (2-0)
L- Harris (0-1)
Thursday April 3, 2014
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