Everything went well for Tim Lincecum while he stood on the AT&T Park pitcher's mound Saturday, and everything had to.
Unbeknown to him, Lincecum was pitching for his spot in the rotation, and he did more than enough in a wild 3-2 extra-innings victory over the Houston Astros to get the ball when the Giants visit Philadelphia later this week. Lincecum threw eight shutout innings but wasn't credited with the win after Santiago Casilla's and Hector Sanchez's mistakes in the ninth sent the game to extra innings.
Sanchez earned a measure of redemption with the game-winning hit in the 12th, bringing a joyous end to a night that started with a vintage performance from Lincecum.
"I can't put a staple on whether I'm halfway or three-quarters (back), but today was a good day," Lincecum said. "I've always said it's not about what you've done, it's about what you've done lately."
Lincecum was coming off the worst stretch of the worst season of his career, and manager Bruce Bochy indicated twice last week that Lincecum could skip his next start if the struggles continued. Lincecum said he wasn't aware of that, and the Giants were eager to put the thought behind them after Lincecum gave up just five hits, walked one and struck out a season-high 11.
"I'm not going to answer 'What ifs,' " Bochy said. "He's starting on Friday. He's had a tough go, but it's all about being resilient and bouncing back. He did that tonight.
"That's
the Timmy we know."To find a taste of his old form, Lincecum went back to the basics. The flame-throwing kid who lit up the radar gun has been replaced by a veteran who regularly throws just 89-91 mph with his fastball. But that didn't stop Lincecum from using the fastball early and often -- very often.
Lincecum used his fastball just 40 percent of the time in the first half, but he went to the heater on 40 of his first 50 pitches Saturday while setting the Astros down effortlessly.
"I wanted to get aggressive," he said. "Fastball location sets up every other pitch. The big thing tonight was to compete."
Lincecum's fastball command helped him get out of the second inning, when he struck out Justin Maxwell and Chris Snyder to strand two runners. He struck out two Astros in each of his final three innings, reaching the eighth inning for just the second time this season.
"You could see the way the game was going," he said. "I usually go to my off-speed stuff when I get ahead (in the count). I was able to go to a whole bunch of fastballs to mix it up."
In his bid for a quality night, Lincecum found a wingman in MVP candidate Melky Cabrera. The left fielder made a highlight-reel grab in the second inning and ended the third with an athletic running catch in the left-center field gap. He drove in Lincecum, who had walked, in the fifth to get the Giants on the board.
"You know how energetic Melky is," Lincecum said. "To cover the ground he does is pretty impressive. Guys were making great plays."
It all added up to a 2-0 lead when Lincecum walked off the mound after eight innings, but Sanchez's attempt to make one last great play backfired.
Casilla entered with a two-run lead in the ninth and quickly gave up a run and had the tying run on second. With two outs, Casilla struck out Snyder, but the ball bounced away from Sanchez. The young catcher pounced and attempted to throw out Snyder at first, but his errant throw allowed Maxwell to score the tying run.
"I went too quickly on that play," Sanchez said. "I tried to do too much."
Bochy, a former catcher, had no problem with Sanchez's aggression.
"A good throw would have had him -- that's a tough way to get a blown save," Bochy said. "Sanchez took it tough. He was upset with himself. You're going to make mistakes, but you've got to put it behind you."
Sanchez did just that on a night when he had a career-high four hits. The final one, a single to right in the 12th inning, scored Pablo Sandoval.
"It's rewarding to see a guy who felt so awful come back and win the game for you," Bochy said.
The rewards were plentiful Saturday. The Giants reclaimed first place and did so with Lincecum having one of his most impressive performances of the season. It will take quite a few more strong starts -- against teams other than the 33-55 Astros, no less -- for the Giants to safely feel that Lincecum is all the way back. But after Saturday night's outing, the right-hander will continue to get opportunities to find that old form.
"That was just a well-fought game," Lincecum said. "I'm going to take the small steps as they come."
- Matt Cain's last outing against the Astros was historic, but he's viewing Sunday's start as "just another game."
"I can't be out there thinking about what happened in the past," said Cain, who pitched a perfect game against the Astros on June 13. "You're not going to make the same pitches, whether they were good or bad."
- The Giants have signed 32 of their draft picks, including 28 of the first 30. Among the players to sign last week was Saint Mary's right-hander Martin Agosta, a second-round pick. The Giants signed each of their first 10 selections.
- In a rehab start for the San Jose Giants, Aubrey Huff (sprained right knee) was 1 for 5 with a run and two strikeouts.
For more on the Giants, see Alex Pavlovic's Giants Extra blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/Giants. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/AlexPavlovic.
Big Number
11 Strikeouts by Tim Lincecum, above, against the Astros. It was the season high for Lincecum. The Astros have struck out 711 times this season, the third highest total in the majors.
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