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Late comeback helps Lincecum notch first win

May 12, 2007 - 6:05 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- After a rough orientation in his first major league appearance, Tim Lincecum proved to be a quick learner.

Lincecum registered his first career win as the San Francisco Giants overcame a late three-run deficit to record an 8-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday.

Lincecum (1-0), the highly-touted 10th overall pick in the 2006 draft, was much better in his second start than he was in his debut against Philadelphia on Sunday, when he surrendered five runs and walked five in 4 1/3 innings. In this one, the 22-year-old phenom yielded three runs - two earned - and seven hits with a walk and six strikeouts in seven frames.

"The nerves weren't there that much this game as they were that (first) game," Lincecum said. "I was a little more relaxed and I didn't feel like I was pressing too much. Also, I didn't feel like I had to win by myself. Sometimes, I put the pressure a lot of on myself and I try to do it by myself. I end up walking a lot of people. Today, I found myself pitching in the zone."

"I thought (Lincecum) pitched well," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "The first run was cheap, but he got better as he went, too. He started using all his pitches and I thought he mixed them up better."

Rockies starter Josh Fogg (1-4) kept the San Francisco Giants hitless through five innings before Daniel Ortmeier singled to lead off the sixth. Trailing, 3-0, the Giants were unable to score on the righthander until the seventh, when Bengie Molina and Pedro Feliz hit consecutive run-scoring doubles to narrow the deficit to 3-2.

"I think we need to keep working to find some people to pick some outs in the bullpen when we need it," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "I thought Fogg gave us a strong outing. We scratched out three runs and we were in good position. We needed to get a double-play ball to keep us rolling and we weren't able to do that."

San Francisco moved ahead in the eighth as Rich Aurilia delivered an RBI single and Ray Durham lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left.

"Once we got to the bullpen, we kept everything going," Ortmeier said. "We got a nice rhythm going and some hits and we started pushing some runs across the board."

The Giants, who snapped their four-game road losing streak with the victory, padded the lead in the ninth. After a two-run base hit by Fred Lewis made it 6-3, Kevin Frandsen hit an RBI infield single and Durham drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the final run.

"It was great to get him (Lincecum) a win because their guy was on top of his game, and for six innings, I don't think (Fogg) worked up a sweat there," Bochy said. "But we woke up. Better late than never."

Giants slugger Barry Bonds, who needs 10 homers to tie Hank Aaron's all-time record, extended his homerless streak at Coors Field to 10 games by going 0-for-3 with a walk before being replaced in left field in the eighth inning by Lewis.

Fogg, who lost his third straight start, yielded four runs and four hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings, his longest start since June 30.

Todd Helton hit his fourth homer of the season for the Rockies, who lost for the third time in four games.