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Lincecum outduels Oswalt as Giants top Astros

May 23, 2007 - 6:20 AM SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The encore between Tim Lincecum and Roy Oswalt was as good as the first.

Lincecum outdueled Oswalt as the San Francisco Giants won the second straight matchup between the two hard-throwing righthanders, 4-2, on Tuesday.

Pedro Feliz continued his hot hitting against Oswalt with a go-ahead double in the seventh inning for the Giants, who have won three straight.

Ryan Klesko doubled twice and Ray Durham drove in two runs for San Francisco, which beat Houston, 2-1, in 12 innings on Thursday.

"Look at what he's (Klesko) done the last few games," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "This is a guy who missed a lot of baseball last year. Petey's (Feliz) played some great ball, too, got the day off yesterday after having a great game and came back today and had another great game."

The two hooked up in an outstanding duel in Houston. Lincecum allowed just an unearned run and two hits in seven innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts, while Oswalt carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finished by allowing just four hits with six strikeouts in seven scoreless innings.

"I didn't feel nearly as good as I did on Thursday," Oswalt said. "When we went up 2-0, I thought I could keep them down. When they scored one I thought I could get through seven 2-1, but I left two pitches up."

Lincecum (2-0) worked a season-high eight innings in this contest, surrendering two runs and five hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

"I thought I was on a pretty even keel the whole game except for that fourth inning," Lincecum said. "Everything else felt pretty good. I got guys to swing early in the counts and kept my pitch count down."

The 5-11 righthander had his contract purchased from Class AAA Fresno on May 6 after totally dominating the Pacific Coast League. The 2006 first-round pick who has drawn comparisons to Roy Oswalt because of his size and mid-90s fastball, allowed just one run and 12 hits in 31 innings with 11 walks and 46 strikeouts.

"The kid was good again," Bochy said. "Gave up two but regrouped. This guy at his age with the little professional experience he has shown the composure. His mound presence was very impressive."

"Everybody in the lineup had a hit except Ausmus and Pence, didn't they," Houston manager Phil Garner asked. "We just couldn't put them together. We scored two runs and didn't make that hold up. We didn't have many chances either."

Oswalt (6-3) lasted seven frames, allowing four runs and nine hits.

"He's got great stuff," Klesko said. "You've got to battle to get a hit. When he's on, you take what he gives you." Armando Benitez survived a single and a flyout to deep center field by Carlos Lee that would have been out of just about every other park before recording his ninth save.

The righthanders each started out perfect, retiring the first nine batters until both offenses broke through in the fourth.

Mike Lamb led off against Lincecum with a double and scored when Mark Loretta tripled down the right field line on a ball that tipped off right fielder Fred Lewis' glove. After Lance Berkman grounded out, Carlos Lee plated Loretta with a single to right field for a 2-0 edge.

"Second time around, seeing him was a little better," Lamb said. "I saw him better today than I did in Houston. Any edge you can get mentally helps out a lot."

But San Francisco got on the board in the bottom half, when Lewis reached on a one-out single, Klesko doubled to right and Barry Bonds was walked intentionally. Durham followed with a sacrifice fly to center field.

Although Oswalt agreed with the decision to walk Bonds intentionally with first base open in the fourth, he disagreed in the sixth.

"I didn't want to walk him there. I wanted to go at him right there. I felt like I could get him out there. I get a fly ball there and it's two outs with a guy on third. More guys you put on the more guys can score."

In the fifth, Klesko doubled with one out. After another intentional walk to Bonds, Durham plated Klesko with a base hit to right to tie the contest a 2-2. Bengie Molina then moved Bonds to third with a sharp single to right field and Pedro Feliz plated both with a double down the right field line for a 4-2 lead.