Lincecum holds Dodgers to one run in six innings to lead Giants to 6- 2 victory in series opener.
Big game from Maxwell, strong start by Lincecum subdues Dodgers
SAN FRANCISCO — Perhaps all the Giants needed was a visit from their hated rivals.
The struggling defending champions discovered some offense, received good starting pitching from Tim Lincecum and earned their second home win of the season with a 6- 2 victory Tuesday over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Lincecum pitched six innings of five- hit ball and got plenty of defense to make the early lead hold up and end the Dodgers’ seven- game winning streak.
“It’s important for us to get on track and just play better ball,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Tonight we turned the double plays, we played better, pitched better and that has to be consistent.”
Justin Maxwell welcomed himself to the Giants with a big night and a huge eighth inning. With the Giants leading 4- 1 and Yasiel Puig representing the tying run, Maxwell made a tremendous sliding catch in foul territory in right field just before jamming his knee into the wall. It was the second out of the inning and Adrian Gonzalez grounded out one batter later to end the threat.
The Giants’ Justin Maxwell makes a sliding catch in right- field foul territory for an out in the eighth inning.
Maxwell stayed in the game and delivered his first home run with the Giants when he crushed a two- run shot to make it 6- 1.
“I didn’t think he had a chance for the ball,” Bochy said of Maxwell’s catch. “He had to go a long ways and it was going away from him. He slammed into the wall pretty good. His knee hit it. But he came out of it fine and ends up hitting a home run. Real nice game and he’ll be back out there tomorrow. It’s nice when these guys get a start and they take advantage of it.”
Lincecum struck out five, including a big one of Jimmy Rollins to end the fifth inning with two runners on. But he excelled by getting the Dodgers to put the ball in play and his defense backed him up with four double plays, the most induced by a Giants starter since Livan Hernandez also had four in September 2002.
The last one came on Lincecum’s final pitch and was a beauty. Howie Kendrick grounded one up the middle and shortstop Brandon Crawford made a diving stop and flipped from his glove to Joe Panik for the The Dodgers' Yasiel Puig isn’t happy over popping- up for an out against the Giants in the third inning. first out. With Puig bearing down on him, Panik’s relay to first just beat Kendrick, with a replay review confirming the call.
“It was a good day to battle,” Lincecum said. “My team made good plays when we needed them. Just all- around good defense and we put up some runs early to set the pace.”
Maxwell’s big night including a two- out triple in the second inning. He scored when Crawford surprised the Dodgers by beating out a drag bunt.
The Giants scored another run in the third on three straight singles, with Buster Posey driving in Panik. His groundball got through the left side of the infield and the Giants tested the weak arm of left fielder Carl Crawford, who had the ball before Panik even reached third base but was well shy of throwing him out.
Two more runs were tacked on with two outs in the fourth inning. With runners at second and third, Nori Aoki hit a swinging bunt toward first base. Gonzalez fielded, but pitcher Brett Anderson was late getting to the base and Gonzalez’ flip got away as both runs scored.
After Maxwell gave the Giants a cushion in the eighth, the Dodgers made it interesting by loading the bases in the ninth off Jean Machi. Santiago Casilla entered and threw a wild pitch allowing a run to score, but got the final out for his fifth save.
Right fielder Hunter n Pence is unlikely to return by his May 1 target date, with his progress not coming as quickly as hoped after he fractured his left forearm March 5.
The injury was supposed to sideline him six- to- eight weeks, leaving the Giants hopeful he’d be back by the end of April or early May. But Bochy said Pence still hasn’t begun swinging off a tee and that “it’d be fair to say” a May 1 return is out of the question.
The Giants haven’t n made a decision on the starting pitcher for Thursday’s game. Ryan Vogelsong or Yusmeiro Petit are expected to start and Bochy said he’ll wait and see if either pitcher is needed over the new two games.
According to STATS, n LLC, Wednesday’s starting pitching matchup between the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw is the first between a reigning World Series MVP and regular season MVP.