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Lincecum continues dominant stretch in Giants' victory

Jul 27, 2007 - 4:39 AM SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds returned to the lineup, but it was someone about half his age that captured the spotlight once again.

Rookie Tim Lincecum pitched six solid innings and Dave Roberts had two RBI, helping the San Francisco Giants manage a four-game split with a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday.

Bonds doubled and finished 1-for-4 for San Francisco, which improved to 37-18 when it scores four or more runs in a contest. He remains two shy of tying Hank Aaron's all-time mark of 755 home runs.

Five of the six hits Lincecum (6-2) yielded went for extra bases, but Jeff Francoeur's two-run, fourth-inning blast accounted for the only runs the Braves could muster.

The 23-year-old also walked two and struck out five - the eighth consecutive outing he has collected at least that many.

"You're not going to drive in too many off that Lincecum, I'll tell you that," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. "We hit some balls hard off him, but he's really got outstanding pitches."

The strong outing continues what has been an impressive stretch for the righthander, who is 4-0 with a 1.34 ERA over his last six starts. With a strikeout of Yunel Escobar in the top of the fifth, Lincecum recorded his 100th career strikeout in his 91st inning pitched, just short of the 88 1/3 innings it took Masanori Murakami to set the franchise record in 1964.

"I felt that I was battling out there," said Lincecum, who didn't even realize he was close to setting a franchise rookie record. "I wasn't finding the zone as much as I'd like to. You watch that game and we played baseball. We played small ball, we got hits when we needed to with guys in scoring position with two outs and that was the difference in the game."

"Another great job by Timmy, another great effort," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "I think anytime you hold a team to two runs, that's a great job. He had a good fastball, started mixing up his pitches as the game went on and threw very well."

With the Giants trailing, 2-0, in the bottom of the fifth, Roberts sparked a three-run frame with a two-run double that plated Omar Vizquel and Pedro Feliz and tied the contest at 2-2. After taking third base on a wild pitch from Atlanta starter Buddy Carlyle (5-3), the speedy leadoff hitter scored the Giants' third run of the inning on Ray Durham's RBI single.

"This is a huge win for us, especially after losing the first two games in the series and coming back," Roberts said. "I feel good right now. I am putting good at-bats together. It's taken longer than I expected, but it's nice."

Vizquel added an RBI double in the sixth to score the fourth and final run.

Three relievers bridged the two-inning gap between Lincecum and closer Brad Hennessey, who set the Braves down in order in the ninth for his eighth save in 10 chances for the Giants, who improved to 39-0 in games in which they had the lead after eight innings.

Carlyle, who was 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA over his last five starts, turned in his worst performance since allowing seven runs against Boston on June 20. He was pulled from the contest in favor of reliever Peter Moylan after surrendering four runs and nine hits with two walks and four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

"I thought Buddy threw fine today," Cox said. "I liked him as much today as I have this season. The one ball to Vizquel was the big mistake - to drive in the extra run. I thought we pitched great here."

"I felt pretty good, it was a frustrating game," Carlyle said. "They scored four runs with two outs and if I made some better pitches with two outs, it might have been a different ballgame."

Carlyle took no satisfaction in keeping Bonds in the park as the Braves staff allowed just three hits to the slugger during the series.

"That's no consolation to me at all," Carlyle said. "I'd rather win the game and give up a homer to tell you the truth. If we win the game and he takes me deep twice, I wouldn't care."

Bonds, who is not talking to the media during the homestand unless he homers, may be putting additional pressure on himself to set the milestone at home, according to Ryan Klesko.

"He looks pretty good, but it looks like sometimes he's expanding the zone because he's anxious to do it at home," Klesko said. "Guys are pitching him tough. He wants to do it for the fans here. You've got to give Atlanta credit; they're coming after him and throwing strikes too."

Brian McCann and Escobar each had two hits for the Braves, who fell to 15-18 on the season in the last game of a series.