SAN FRANCISCO — “Tiny Tim” stood about 10 feet tall Friday night at AT&T Park.
In a late-August game with the feel of an October classic, Tim Lincecum, San Francisco’s 5-foot-10, 170-pound ace, outdueled the Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez in the Giants’ 2-0 victory.
Lincecum’s eight-inning, four-hit performance sent the Rockies to their third straight defeat, turning the screws ever tighter in the National League wild-card race.
The Giants pulled within two games of the Rockies. In the National League West, the Rockies remained four behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, who fell 4-2 at Cincinnati. The Giants moved within six games of L.A.
Lincecum, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, was brilliant. One snapshot of that brilliance: In the sixth, he struck out Seth Smith looking on a 93 mph inside fastball — the 13th pitch in the at-bat. Smith, thinking he had earned a walk, moved back to the dugout looking like he’d seen a ghost.
“That’s as fine of a pitching performance by any two pitchers in the American or National League,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “Give credit where credit is due. Timmy Lincecum did a tremendous job tonight, but so did our guy.”
Lincecum struck out eight, exacting a measure of revenge for last Sunday’s game at Coors Field when Jimenez bested him in a 4-2 Colorado victory. Lincecum improved to 13-4, his ERA a minuscule 2.33.
“A lot of times we were one hit away, but we just couldn’t get that hit,” Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta said. “But there are still two games left in the series and we can still come out of here 2-1. We are still where we need to be. It’s no time to panic.”
Lincecum looked on track for a complete-game shutout, but he was lifted after eight innings because of his 127 pitches. Closer Brian Wilson came on and gave up a leadoff single to Todd Helton, but struck out Troy Tulowitzki, got Brad Hawpe out on a dangerously deep flyball to center and struck out Iannetta, sending Giants fans into orbit.
In a game with no room for error, a misplaced, two-out pitch in the fifth — a 78 mph curveball — doomed Jimenez. Pablo Sandoval lifted it over the left-field wall for an opposite-field homer and a 1-0 Giants lead.
“I feel happy with what I did out there, but I just made one big mistake, and we didn’t win,” Jimenez said. “I wanted to bounce the curveball, but I left it over the plate, and he hit it out.”
The Giants extended the lead in the sixth on Eugenio Velez’s single that scored Eli Whiteside. Jimenez gave up seven hits in seven innings, losing for the first time since July 10, snapping his six-game winning streak.
Jimenez was resilient, pulling off Alcatraz-style escapes in the three of the first four innings.
In the first, the Giants had the bases loaded with one out before Jimenez induced Travis Ishikawa to popup to Tulowitzki at short and then got Juan Uribe to ground out to Tulowitzki. The Giants stranded two more in the second, Jimenez striking out Edgar Renteria on a curveball to end the inning. In the fourth, Uribe led off with a double that plopped to the ground about 8 feet from home plate as Jimenez, Iannetta and third baseman Ian Stewart decided who should take it. Uribe got as far as third base but no farther.
By the end of the fourth, the Giants were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, but when they finally got to Jimenez it was more than enough with Lincecum on the mound.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
TODAY: Rockies at Giants, 7 p.m., FSN
Jason Marquis (14-8, 3.47 ERA) has become the innings-eater and consistent winner the Rockies so desperately needed. All of that talk about Marquis’ traditional second-half swoon has faded away, and with four more wins he would set a Rockies club record for victories in a season. He also has a chance to set the club record for the lowest ERA in a season, held by Joe Kennedy (3.66) in 2004. On May 2, Marquis threw a complete-game gem against the Giants at AT&T Park. The Giants counter with lefty Barry Zito (8-11, 4.09), who is 3-2 with a 2.08 ERA since the all-star break. At Coors Field on Monday, Zito pitched six innings of three-hit ball without allowing an earned run. But he did walk six (one intentional).
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
Sunday: Rockies’ Jason Hammel (8-7, 4.43 ERA) vs. Giants’ Matt Cain (12-4, 2.39), 2:05 p.m., FSN
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Mets’ Mike Pelfrey (9-9, 4.80) vs. Rockies’ TBA, 6:40 p.m., FSN
Wedneday: Mets’ Tim Redding (2-4, 5.94) vs. Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (12-9, 4.72), 6:40 p.m., FSN
Thursday: Mets’ Pat Misch (0-1, 3.41) vs. Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (12-10, 3.33), 1:10 p.m., no TV
