Lincecum roughed up by Reds as Leake shuts down Giants
SAN FRANCISCO- AT&T Park 'magic' took a day off as the San Francisco Giants' (36-29) ace Tim Lincecum (5-5) was chewed up and spit out by the Cincinnati Reds (34-32) who beat the Giants 10-2 on Saturday afternoon in front of 41,725 fans at AT&T Park (30th consecutive sell-out). Lincecum failed to record an out in the fifth inning in which he was relieved by Guillermo Mota.
Lincecum's start saw through four innings pitched, seven runs come across the plate (all earned), on seven hits, four walks, one strikeout, with two wild pitches, which aided the Reds scoring clinic against Lincecum. It has been that kind of season for Lincecum in 2011, which has seen a lot of inconsistency for him.
The Reds starter Mike Leake (6-2) has been having a great year for the Reds and this start was no different. Leake completely shut down and shutout the Giants going eight innings giving up four hits with eight strikeouts against one walk. The Giants had no answers for the offense or defense of Cincinnati. They were able to squander a two-run home run by Pat Burrell in the ninth inning.
The news doesn't get any better for the Giants and their fans who will see yet another one of their starters go on the disabled list. Freddy Sanchez dislocated his right shoulder on Friday night while diving for a ground ball, and was put on the 15-day DL. The Giants do not yet know the severity of Sanchez's injury and he could be out longer with the MRI tests pending. It is safe to say that it has become the 'Fresno Grizzlies Show' in San Francisco. The Giants signed free agent Bill Hall to a major league contract who will fill the roster spot vacated by the injured Sanchez.
The Giants have now had 12 players go on the disabled list already in the 2011 season which is not even at the half-way mark (they had 13 go on the list in the entire 2010 season).