For that extra warm, fuzzy feeling — not that anyone needed it after tonight’s 4 – 1 win — the first 20,000 fans at AT&T Park received a black-on-orange patterned “wearable blanket” (read: imitation Snuggie).
Also part of tonight’s fashion debut: Orange Friday jerseys. In a throwback to the uniforms of the late 80s and early 90s, the team will be wearing orange jerseys on Friday home games.
But clothing aside, starting pitcher Tim Lincecum notched his fourth win and pitched seven strong innings to lead the Giants to a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals — the first win after four straight losses. If “The Freak” and wearable blankets couldn’t stop the bleeding, it didn’t look like anyone could.
The Giants took the field to The Doors’ “Light My Fire,” and with seven hits and 11 strikeouts between Lincecum, reliever Sergio Romo and closer Brian Wilson, the team lit up the orange sea of fans through all nine innings.
While the team stranded six men on base throughout the entire game, they did something they hadn’t done in the last four games: With only a couple of allowed hits in the entire game — that were caught — the Giants found holes in the in-field, capitalized on the two Cardinals errors and brought men home. Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia lasted six innings and took the loss to bring his record to 1-1.
The Giants got on the board in their half of the first inning. Center fielder Andres Torres, who has been struggling this season, led the bottom of the first with a double to right field. After left fielder Mark DeRosa grounded out, Torres advanced to third and scored on a throwing error to first.
Offensively, the Giants scored two in the third after another Cardinals error — all they would need to win the game. But first baseman Aubrey Huff scored on another throwing error in the fifth just for good measure.
Lincecum wasn’t the hitting machine he was in his last start, but he did what he was supposed to do: get outs. He recorded seven strikeouts on his own and despite giving up three walks, he got double plays and had a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth.
Romo carried on the domination of the Cardinals in the eighth, striking out first baseman Albert Pujols and giving up no hits.
Wilson notched his third save and cemented the win by striking out the first two batters and getting second baseman Skip Schumaker to strike out looking to end the game.
The Giants are now 9 – 7 on the season and one game behind the San Diego Padres in the NL West.
Barry Zito (2-0) is scheduled to pitch today’s game against Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (3-0).