Tim Lincecum absolutely brilliant as he retires 21 Oakland batters – MLB Update
Tim Lincecum doesn’t have anything to prove to any one where his pitching is concerned, as the two times Cy Young winner didn’t think twice before he started retiring one batter after another in the second match of the inter league three game set between
the Oakland Athletics and the reigning World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Saturday, May 21.
By the end of the match 21 of the Athletics batters had surrendered to the force that Lincecum’s pitching is.
Lincecum unleashed a strong 133 pitches on Saturday against Oakland which is the second most since his career began. 138 pitches against the San Diego Padres on September 13 in 2008 marked the highest in his career.
Even though Lincecum very apparently didn’t show any sort of mercy on the batters that were being knocked out like flies, he modestly said, "I have sympathy for them." Almost forty two thousand fans that were present at the AT&T Park probably had sympathy
for the Athletics as well.
"He's one of the best pitchers in baseball," Landon Powell said. "It's not going to be an easy at-bat whenever you go up to face him. You just try to scratch it together against him."
Even though Lincecum has had more than his fair share of dazzling moments throughout the duration of his fairly young career, what he unleashed against the Athletics was truly remarkable. It was easily his best performance since the season began as he shattered
bats and baffled hitters who just couldn’t understand what had overcome Lincecum. A variety of pitches in the form of curves, fastballs and change ups kept the hitters confused as to what was coming next.
Lincecum struck-out six and did not let any one walk as he wrapped up his eighth complete game of his soaring career while handing the Athletics their fourth consecutive defeat.
"I think it just goes back to having good rhythm throughout the game," Lincecum commented regarding his performance. "Not expending yourself too much to allow yourself, if you get into a jam, to take it to another level."
The first run to go up on the scoreboard came courtesy of Buster Posey and he grounded into the second base and Andy Torres scored. Freddy Sanchez moved himself to third base during the play. The eighth inning saw Cody Ross single to left as Posey scored.
The last run of the game came as Miguel Tejada belted out a sacrifice fly to centre-field as Ross scored.
Lincecum proved why he is the best in the business, as he tore apart the Athletics’ line-up.
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