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Bonds homerless as Lincecum, Giants blank Brewers

Jul 21, 2007 - 11:49 PM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- With all eyes on Barry Bonds and his pursuit of the all-time home run record, rookie starter Tim Lincecum stole the show on Saturday.

Bonds walked twice - once intentionally - to remain two homers shy of tying Hank Aaron's mark, but Lincecum pitched eight shutout innings as the San Francisco Giants blanked the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-0.

Bonds, who rarely starts a day game after a night contest, went 0-for-2 with a strikeout before being pulled for a pinch runner in the eighth inning. Bonds is now 1-for-12 against the Brewers this season and 0-for-6 in this series.

Lincecum (5-2) scattered four hits and struck out eight to claim his third consecutive win. The 23-year-old has allowed just four earned runs in his last five games and has struck out 41 over that span.

"I'm just kind of feeding off the good things that have happened to get me over that bad hump of starts," Lincecum said. "I'm coming out with a little bit of arrogance, whatever happens, happens."

Since being called up on May 6, Lincecum has become the team's most dominant strikeout pitcher. Despite having five fewer starts than the rest of the rotation, Lincecum leads the team with 95 strikeouts.

"He's gotten better and better each start, he's using all his pitches," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He tried to power his way through lineups more than he should have a few times, now he'll throw any pitch at any time."

Reliever Jack Taschner got the final three outs for the Giants.

Pedro Feliz provided all the offense the Giants would need in the second inning when his single plated Ryan Klesko. For good measure, Feliz added a two-run homer in the fourth, his 14th blast of the season, for some breathing room.

"He (Feliz) got us going his first two times up and that home run was huge," Bochy said. "Hopefully, it's starting to click here."

Feliz has gone 9-for-19 with two homers and six RBI during the team's current five-game road trip.

"I've felt much better the last week, I've been working hard," Feliz said. "I got the green light (in the fourth inning), got a good pitch to hit and hit it in the right spot."

The Giants added insurance runs in the ninth on run-scoring singles by Dave Roberts and Randy Winn and a bases-clearing double by Ray Durham.

Brewers starter Dave Bush (8-8) pitched well in defeat, allowed three runs on six hits in six innings and striking out seven.

"If I'm pitching and giving up ground balls, I like my chances. I limited the damage," Bush said. "Obviously, the home run is the one that hurt us."

The Brewers maintained their 2 1/2-game lead in the National League Central because the Cubs lost to the Diamondbacks at Wrigley Field.

"You go through these streaks, you've just got to keep pushing and hope you get through it soon," Brewers manager Ned Yost said.