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Lincecum, Giants look to avoid sweep against red-hot Rockies

Aug 27, 2008 - 10:50 AM Colorado (63-71) at San Francisco (58-74), 10:15 pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The Colorado Rockies have caught fire, but Tim Lincecum's blazing fastball and knee-buckling breaking balls are potent enough to pour water on them.

The San Francisco Giants send their ace to the mound with hopes of avoiding a sweep by Rockies on Wednesday.

Lincecum (14-3, 2.48 ERA) will try act as a stopper once again for the Giants, who had won seven of eight prior to this series.

The 24-year-old righthander leads the major leagues in strikeouts and is second in ERA. He has held opponents to three runs or less in eight of his last 10 starts and is coming off a brilliant outing against the San Diego Padres in which he tossed eight scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in a 5-0 victory on Friday.

Meanwhile, Colorado (63-71) has won four straight and nine of 11 and is reminding the baseball world of its storied second-half comeback last season before snagging the National League pennant.

Despite the recent surge, the Rockies remain in third place in the NL West, six games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks (68-64).

Garrett Atkins, Chris Iannetta and Troy Tulowitzki each drove in two runs for the Rockies en route to their 7-2 win on Tuesday. In the opener, Jeff Francis pitched Colorado to a 4-2 triumph.

Livan Hernandez (1-2, 14.93) will counter Lincecum. The veteran righty will be making his fourth start since being acquired from the Minnesota Twins via waivers.

The 33-year-old righthander has struggled immensely, surrendering 21 runs and 25 hits in 12 1/3 innings.