Tim Lincecum will try to pitch the San Francisco Giants to their first series victory in nearly a month when he takes the mound on Saturday night for the third contest of a four-game series with the San Diego Padres.
Lincecum gets the start eyeing his first victory since June 4 and could do worse than duplicating his last outing, even if it didn't result in a win.
Lincecum is 0-4 with a 4.33 earned run average over his last six starts, all losses for the Giants. However, he turned in a quality outing versus the New York Mets on Monday, yielding three runs over seven innings and striking out a season-high 11 in a game that the Giants lost 4-3 in 16 innings.
The 29-year-old righty is 4-9 with a 4.61 ERA in 18 start this season, splitting two outings versus the Padres with a 1.32 ERA. Lincecum is 11-6 lifetime versus the Padres with a 2.34 ERA in 24 meetings, holding them to a pair of runs in 13 2/3 frames this year.
The Giants are just 5-16 since taking two of three from the Padres back on June 17-19, but have won the first two contests of this series to earn at least a split of the set heading into the All-Star break. San Francisco would like more, though, and broke out the bats in a 10-1 rout last night.
Buster Posey drove in five runs, including two with a double during a five-run seventh inning, and Marco Scutaro had three hits and two RBI. Brandon Crawford had two hits and scored twice for the Giants, who had lost 14 of 16 before this series and still sit eight games under .500.
Chad Gaudin gave up just one run on three hits with four walks and five strikeouts over five innings of work to earn the win.
"It's great to see the offense break out of it. It's good to win a couple (in a row) too with the tough stretch we've been through," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "(We've) put together back-to-back well-played games with good pitching."
Chase Headley drove in the only run of the game for the Padres, who have dropped 13 of their last 14 games. Sean O'Sullivan, a San Diego native recalled from the minors before the game, was charged with two runs on six hits over five innings to suffer the loss.
"They put some stress on him and he really had to work out of some jams," said San Diego manager Bud Black, who was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing an obstruction call. "But I thought he put together some effective innings out there."
Black will hand the ball to Edinson Volquez, who seeks a better start to tonight's outing than the one that led to a loss against the Colorado Rockies on Monday.
Volquez allowed four runs on eight hits and four walks over 5 1/3 innings, falling behind 2-0 after the first frame. He opened the game by walking the first batter he faced and gave up a one-out single before yielding a double that plated both runners.
"He was a little erratic at times. He tried to reel it back in," Black said. "Overall his stuff was good. He was a little erratic with the heater from the get-go and they capitalized on a couple of breaks."
Volquez dipped below .500 at 6-7 with a 5.33 ERA in 19 starts this season.
The 30-year-old righty is 2-1 with a 5.05 ERA in eight lifetime encounters with the Giants, getting a pair of no-decisions this season.
The Giants have won seven of their 11 meetings with the Padres this season.
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