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Lincecum overcome elements, Dodgers for Giants' first win

Apr 3, 2008 - 7:42 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The San Francisco Giants very much wanted Tim Lincecum to pick up their first win of the season, even if it had to come in relief.

Lincecum overcame a long rain delay, struck out four and scored the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth inning to lead the Giants to a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

After inclement weather forced both managers to pull their scheduled starters prior to the game - Lincecum (1-0) and Chad Billingsley - both came on in relief in the fourth inning, only to have rain halt the contest in the top of the fifth inning for 74 minutes.

"We expected a big storm, so we didn't want Billingsley to go out and pitch two or three innings and then have to shut it down during a delay," Dodger manager Joe Torre said.

While the Dodgers opted not to return with Billingsley after the long delay, the Giants chose to ride Lincecum as far as he could take them.

"I just wanted to go out and keep us in the ballgame, no matter when I pitched," Lincecum said. "My fastball was working for me tonight, and I just can't wait to get out there for my next start. I felt like I had good stuff working for me."

The 23-year-old righthander allowed one run and four hits with four walks in four innings.

"Tim had good stuff tonight," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He wanted to keep pitching and felt fine, so we let him go."

With the game tied at 1-1 in the sixth, Lincecum delivered a one-out single in the sixth off Esteban Loaiza (0-1). Eugenio Velez and Rich Aurilia followed with a single and walk, respectively, to load the bases before Randy Winn plated Lincecum with a sacrifice fly, giving the Giants a 2-1 advantage.

After surrendering his lone run on a single by James Loney prior to the delay, Lincecum held the Dodgers scoreless until giving way to Tyler Walker in the eighth.

Before departing, he was able to work out of a jam to end the Dodgers' best opportunity to take the lead in the seventh.

After Loney led off the inning with a double, rookie Blake DeWitt also doubled to center. But the hit was unable to score a run because Loney could not tell whether center fielder Aaron Rowand could make a play on the ball while it was in the air, stopping at third base.

Lincecum bore down to strike out pinch hitter Mark Sweeney for the second out and, after issuing a walk to Rafael Furcal to load the bases, Russell Martin to defuse the threat.

The Dodgers mounted their final threat in the ninth against closer Brian Wilson courtesy of a fielding error by first baseman Aurilia on a grounder by DeWitt.

However, pinch hitter Juan Pierre's sacrifice attempt backfired when the ball dribbled straight to Wilson, who fired to second to force DeWitt for the first out.

The next batter, Furcal, worked the count to 2-2 only to come up empty on a hit-and-run attempt, allowing catcher Bengie Molina to fire a perfect throw to shortstop Brian Bocock to retire Pierre and end the game, giving Wilson his first save of the season and the Giants their first win.

"That was a great way to end a game like this," Bochy said. "We got Furcal to not put the ball in play and made a good throw to double up the runner and end the game. It was a good win for us."

"I just wanted to go up there and hit the ball hard somewhere," Furcal said. "We were aggressive in the last inning, (but) it just didn't work out for us tonight."

DeWitt had three hits and Martin scored the lone run for the Dodgers.