Worley 3-hits Giants after Lincecum scratched

PHILADELPHIA – Tim Lincecum was scratched from his scheduled start with a stomach illness on Tuesday night, and the San Francisco Giants hitters couldn't have felt well after facing Philadelphia Phillies rookie right-hander Vance Worley.

Worley threw a three-hitter and Chase Utley hit an inside-the-park homer to lead Philadelphia to a 7-2 victory in a matchup of the NL's top teams.

Worley (7-1) had five strikeouts and one walk, and has allowed two earned runs or less in 11 of his 13 career starts. It was Worley's fifth straight win.

"He has good stuff," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Worley. "He throws quality strikes, pounds the strike zone and stayed in command the whole game."

Barry Zito (3-3), a late replacement for Lincecum, allowed six runs and six hits in seven innings while striking out four and walking two.

Lincecum was scratched two hours before the game and is listed as day-to-day. He could pitch Wednesday against the Phillies, taking Zito's place, and Bochy said after the game that a decision wouldn't be made until Wednesday.

Zito was headed to take batting practice at 5:20 p.m. when Bochy informed him of the start. It was the first-ever fill-in start for Zito, who was forced to slightly alter his routine. But he did not use it as an excuse for the outing.

"I skipped a couple of things but for the most part if you have an hour-and-a-half to get ready, you're going to be ready," he said. "I didn't really have everything working until the second or third (inning). I think the difference in the game was they didn't miss mistakes."

Zito, pitching on nine days' rest, was roughed up in the first inning when Philadelphia scored four runs.

"That's what makes it tough that first inning, getting behind when (Worley's) throwing the ball as well as he is and it's just too much to overcome," Bochy said.

Ryan Howard, John Mayberry Jr. and Raul Ibanez also homered for the Phillies (65-37).

Aaron Rowand homered against his former team for the Giants (59-44).

But San Francisco couldn't muster much else against Worley.

"He did a real good job," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of Worley. "He's aggressive and goes right at them."

"I think I'm figuring how to pitch now," Worley said.

Manuel said Worley deserved to go the distance.

"I think it does something for the guy," Manuel said. "I wanted him to stay in there for himself. He earned the right."

Worley shared the credit with backup catcher Brian Schneider.

"I'm not out there thinking too much," Worley said. "I'm just going with the pitches I had. He's really smooth back there. We were definitely both on the same page."

Six of the Phillies' seven hits were for six extra bases.

In the sixth, Utley drove the ball off the wall in center. It caromed away from center fielder Andres Torres and was retrieved by right fielder Nate Schierholtz. The relay came to shortstop Mike Fontenot, whose throw home was slightly to the left of catcher Eli Whiteside. Utley, sliding headfirst, just beat the lunging tag of Whiteside to put Philadelphia up 6-1.

"It hit the wall, took that corner and kept going the other way," Torres said.

The game was a rematch of last season's NLCS when the Giants beat the Phillies in six games on their way to winning the World Series.

The Phillies scored four runs in the first after Zito had retired the first two batters, highlighted by Ibanez's three-run homer to deep right-center. Ibanez had been 9 for 49 (.184) lifetime against Zito entering the game. Howard had put Philadelphia on the board with an RBI double to right that scored Utley.

Zito said the pitch to Ibanez was a cutter that didn't move enough inside.

"I felt pretty good after the first," Zito said. "That Ibanez pitch I want back."

The left-hander rebounded after the slow start, allowing two runs and three hits over his final six innings.

"It's a shame he couldn't get out of that (first) inning because he regrouped and ended up throwing the ball fairly well," Bochy said. "That's impressive on his part, not caving in and finding a way to give us innings."

The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the first on Pablo Sandoval's sacrifice fly.

Mayberry homered to left in the fourth to give the Phillies a 5-1 lead.

Rowand's pinch-hit homer in the eighth pulled the Giants within 6-2, but Howard got the run back with a solo shot to left in the bottom of the inning.

Cody Ross, the MVP of last season's NLCS, went 0 for 3 and is 1 for his last 17.

Notes: The crowd of 45,740 was the Phillies' 177th consecutive sellout. ... Philadelphia hasn't had a losing streak since dropping four straight from May 31-June 4. ... Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins went 0 for 4, stretching his slump to one hit in his last 20 at-bats.