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.