San  Francisco,  CA (SportsNetwork.com)  - Tim Lincecum's  mercurial bid for a 
second no-hitter was done in by a blister and a high pitch count. 

Lincecum  threw  five no-hit innings  before San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy 
took him out for a pinch-hitter, and five Giants relievers finished off a two- 
hit shutout in a 5-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday. 

George  Kontos  (1-0) preserved  the no-hitter into  the seventh inning before 
Cubs catcher John Baker singled off Jeremy Affeldt with one out to end it. 

The Giants finished off a 5-1 homestand with back-to-back shutouts of the Cubs 
to end a three-game series, holding them scoreless for the last 20 innings. 

Lincecum  did  his part,  though he  labored through  his five innings despite 
having what Bochy called "great stuff." 

The  two-time Cy Young Award winner threw 96 pitches -- just 52 for strikes -- 
walked four batters and hit another. He struck out five. 

Lincecum  threw 148 pitches in his first career no-hitter last July 13 against 
the Padres in San Diego. But Bochy said there was "no chance" the right-hander 
was going to be able to finish Wednesday's game. 

"He  worked hard and  had great stuff but he was starting to develop a blister 
and there were concerns with that," said Bochy. 

"When  you're close  to 100 pitches after  five innings, that's a lot of work. 
... There was no doubt he was going to come out at some point." 

Edwin  Jackson (3-5) struck  out nine but took the loss, giving up two runs on 
four  hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. Jackson threw a 149-pitch no-hitter 
on June 25, 2010, for Arizona against Tampa Bay. 

Lincecum's  outing started  with a  called strike,  followed by  four straight 
balls to walk leadoff hitter Emilio Bonifacio. 

He  also walked Anthony Rizzo in the first. Pablo Sandoval saved a hit when he 
dove  to stop Starlin Castro's shot down the third-base line and threw him out 
at first. 

Lincecum threw 32 pitches in the first. 

"We  had him  on the ropes," said Cubs manager Rick Renteria -- and it wasn't 
the only time. 

Lincecum  walked John Baker in the second and hit Nate Schierholtz on the hand 
at  the end  of a seven-pitch at-bat  in the fourth inning that began with two 
called strikes. 

The  next batter,  Mike Olt,  reached on  shortstop Brandon  Crawford's error, 
moving Schierholtz to second base, where he stayed. 

In  the fifth inning, Bonifacio drew a five-pitch walk to reach base again but 
Lincecum  got  Junior Lake to ground  into an inning-ending double play on his 
final pitch. 

Kontos threw a perfect sixth inning for the Giants and was replaced by Affeldt 
after  striking  out Olt to start  the seventh. Affeldt walked Justin Ruggiano 
before serving up Baker's hit through the right side. 

The  Giants  had four baserunners  -- one walk,  three singles -- before Angel 
Pagan  led off the  sixth inning with a double. He scored on Sandoval's double 
off  reliever  James Russell  and Tyler Colvin  also had an  RBI double in the 
inning to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. 

They  pushed it to  5-0 in the seventh, the first run scoring when Olt made an 
error  on  Buster Posey's  grounder to third  base and the  last two on Hector 
Sanchez's double. Both hits came off Justin Grimm. 

                                   Game Notes 

The  Giants  will start a  seven-game road trip Thursday  in St. Louis ... The 
Cubs  are  3-4 on  a 10-game  road trip that  finishes up  with three games in 
Milwaukee  starting Friday ... There have been 10 combined no-hitters -- those 
thrown  by more than one pitcher -- in major league history, just three in the 
National League.