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Jackson sparks late rally as Diamondbacks top Giants

Jul 27, 2008 - 5:14 AM By Ryan McCrary PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- A marquee matchup between two of the top pitchers in the National League did not disappoint, but the San Francisco Giants' shaky bullpen faltered again as the Arizona Diamondbacks took a 5-3 victory on Saturday.

Tim Lincecum and Brandon Webb each tossed seven strong innings, combining for 21 strikeouts and just two walks. Lincecum left with the Giants leading, 3-2, but the Diamondbacks rallied for three runs in the eighth against Tyler Walker.

Walker (3-6) surrendered a sacrifice fly to Chris Young to tie the score and Conor Jackson followed with the decisive RBI single.

"It's frustrating after we battled back on probably one of the best pitchers in the league," Walker said. "I just feel I let everybody in this clubhouse down."

Chad Tracy added a sacrifice fly to secure the win for Webb (14-4).

Newly acquired Jon Rauch pitched a perfect eighth and Brandon Lyon worked around a base hit in the ninth to notch his 21st save.

"That's no question a tough one," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "(Lincecum) did such a great job. He pitched terrific. We got a big hit there to get a lead off a tough pitcher and couldn't hold it. Against a club that's in front of us, no question this is a tough one."

San Francisco reclaimed the lead in the sixth on a two-out, two-run single to shallow center by Aaron Rowand to go up, 3-2.

Webb, who is tied for the major league lead in wins, allowed a sacrifice fly to Randy Winn in the first and a two-run single by Rowand in the sixth. The 2006 Cy Young Award winner gave up three runs and four hits while striking out eight.

"One of the reasons (Webb has) the record he does is because he's pretty economical with his pitches and we can leave him out there in close games like that," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "If you can get another inning and the team comes back with a couple runs, you can get him the win."

Webb wobbled early and his defense did not help in the first, either. After issuing a leadoff walk to Dave Roberts, who promptly stole second, Eugenio Velez reached on a fielding error to give the Giants runners at the corners. After a sacrifice fly from Randy Winn, Webb bounced back to strike out Bengie Molina and Rowand to end the threat.

"I got some big strikeouts there when I had to and made some good pitches there," Webb said. "I tried to stay in there as long as I could. I threw a few more pitches than I usually do, so I tried to be more aggressive in the strike zone and tried to get my pitch count under control."

Lincecum, who recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts, got some help from the shadows but continued to dazzle with an electrifying fastball. Unfortunately for the Giants, his 111 pitches prevented him from throwing into the eighth.

"With as many strikeouts as he threw tonight, his pitch count was bound to get up, so that was our plan to go up there and strike out as many times as possible to get his pitch count up there," Young said. "You couldn't really see the ball well the first five innings (because of shadows). When we finally started to see the ball in the sixth or seventh inning, you're just trying to find a way to grind it out."

It was the third loss in the last four starts for Lincecum, who has received three runs or less from the offense in 11 starts this season.

"I haven't been here that long, but I've seen enough games to where I know things aren't always going to go your way," Lincecum said. "I just try to stay as even keel as possible. The game was exciting; you're going to run into those games where it's just going to slip away from you. You just try not to get too down about it and just take positives from each outing you can."

Arizona seized the lead in the fifth inning as Jackson and Tracy laced back-to-back singles and Chris Snyder slapped a two-run double down the right field line for a 2-1 lead.