San Francisco Giants Lose As Tim Lincecum Continues To Struggle With Paul Goldschmidt
By Phil Watson
Apr 9, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (44) is greeted at home plate by Gerardo Parra (8) and Eric Chavez (12) after Goldschmidt hit a three run home run against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of their baseball game at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports
San Francisco Giants starter Tim Lincecum was lit up for seven runs in four innings, including a three-run homer by nemesis Paul Goldschmidt in the top of the first, in a 7-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday at AT&T Park.
Lincecum (0-1) never settled into a groove, giving up three runs before recording an out. Gerardo Parra led off the game with a triple to right, Martin Prado walked and Goldschmidt—who is now 13-for-24 lifetime against Lincecum with seven home runs and 17 RBI—hit an opposite-field shot to right field.
Both of Goldschmidt’s home runs this season have come off Lincecum.
The Giants got a run back in the second when Michael Morse hit his second homer of the year into the seats in left.
Arizona (3-8) got two in the third on a sacrifice fly by Goldschmidt and an RBI triple by Eric Chavez.
San Francisco (6-3) manufactured a run in the bottom of the third when Brandon Belt led off with a single. He was wiped out on a force play on Pablo Sandoval’s grounder. Buster Posey singled and Bronson Arroyo (1-0) threw a wild pitch that moved runners up to second and third before Hunter Pence grounded out to second to get the run home.
The Diamondbacks got their final two runs off Lincecum in the fourth on a two-run homer by Parra, his first of the season.
Lincecum gave up seven runs on seven hits with a walk and five strikeouts and his ERA in 10 innings through two starts rose to 9.90.
The Giants’ final run came in the fifth when Posey lined his third homer into the left field seats. San Francisco never mounted a serious threat after the fifth, never advancing a runner beyond first base.
Arroyo worked the first five innings for the D-backs, allowing three runs on six hits, and Josh Collmenter worked four shutout innings for his first save of the season.
Yusmeiro Petit worked two shutout innings of relief for the Giants, striking out four while allowing two hits, while J.C. Gutierrez, Jean Machi and David Huff each worked a scoreless frame.
Angel Pagan had three of San Francisco’s nine hits, hiking his average to .462, and Posey was 2-for-3.
The rubber game of the three-game series is Thursday at 7:15 p.m., with Randall Delgado (0-1, 11.57 ERA) starting for Arizona and Ryan Vogelsong (0-0, 9.00 ERA) scheduled for the Giants.