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Lincecum shuts down Phillies

Aug 8, 2011 - 2:48 AM San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Tim Lincecum turned in a typical shutdown performance when the Giants needed it, as San Francisco salvaged its four-game series against Philadelphia with a 3-1 victory, snapping the Phillies' nine- game winning streak in the process.

A 1-8 stretch put the Giants on the precipice of losing their place atop the National League West standings, but Lincecum (10-9) held Philadelphia to one run over 7 2/3 innings to keep the reigning World Series champions in front of the Arizona Diamondbacks by a half-game.

"We got the Diamondbacks nipping at our heels ... We have to use this as a [spark] to a winning streak," Lincecum said.

The Giants' usually listless offense produced 13 hits, four coming from Jeff Keppinger, who also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Roy Oswalt (4-7), coming off a six-week stint on the disabled list, yielded a career-high-tying 12 hits, though he managed to limit the Giants to three runs in six innings of work.

The rematch of last year's NL Championship Series went the way of the visitors the first three games of the set, which included a clearing of the benches in the second meeting when Giants reliever Ramon Ramirez plunked Shane Victorino.

The repercussions for those involved in the fracas has yet to be determined, but Lincecum showed the Giants still had some fight left on Sunday.

Holding a 3-1 lead in the eighth, the two-time Cy Young Award winner shook off a wayward bat to the right knee when Chase Utley lost his grip and flung it towards the mound. Utley singled later in the at-bat, the seventh base hit Lincecum allowed, and Hunter Pence reached on an Aubrey Huff error with two outs.

Javier Lopez came in from the bullpen to face Raul Ibanez, whose fly ball to the warning track in left was tracked down by Aaron Rowand.

Brian Wilson worked around a one-out bloop double in the ninth to record his 34th save of the season.

"We ran into some good pitching," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We had a nine-game winning streak and we'll start another one tomorrow."

This was the seventh time Oswalt and his younger doppelganger squared off, and the former scored the game's first run in the third, leading off the frame with a dribbler up the middle and coming around on Utley's two-out base hit to right-center.

The Giants had baserunners in each of the first three innings, but didn't score until the fourth when they loaded the bases with one out. Struggling at the plate, Chris Stewart attempted a squeeze bunt that narrowly went foul, which proved to be a break for San Fran when Stewart lined an RBI single to center.

San Francisco again loaded the bases in the fifth and managed one run on Orlando Cabrera's sacrifice fly, and Keppinger plated Stewart with a fly ball to right an inning later.

Game Notes

Every starting position player for the Giants had at least one hit...San Francisco came into the game 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position in the series and went 4-for-13 in those situations Sunday...The last away four-game sweep by the Phils vs. the Giants came August 6-8, 1943 at the Polo Grounds in New York...Pence went hitless for the first time in a Phillies uniform (nine games)...The Giants next host the struggling Pirates for three games, while the Phillies head down to Los Angeles for a three-game series against the Dodgers.