SAN FRANCISCO // Tim Lincecum returned to the mound to help the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 9-1 on Monday and keep their play-off hopes alive. Last year's National League Cy Young winner gave his team an emotional lift with 11 strike-outs in seven innings as he won his 14th game of the year. Lincecum, 25, had missed his previous start with a back injury. In the opener of their crucial three-game series, the win moved the Giants (78-66) to within three and a half games of the Rockies (82-63) for the NL wildcard berth.
"The way things were going with the [recent] skid, it didn't look like we'd ever come out of it," Lincecum told the San Francisco Chronicle. "But here we score that many runs against the Dodgers [on Sunday], and tonight too. It's never too late." Outfielder Aaron Rowand put San Francisco on top with a two-run single in the second inning. Lincecum surrendered a triple in the seventh to Carlos Gonzalez who scored on a wild pitch, but otherwise showed no ill effects as he threw 116 pitches. Eugenio Velez hit a three-run triple in the eighth and San Francisco scored five times in the inning to break the game open.
Bengie Molina made a point to the Giants management with his two hits and a solo home run in the third inning. Molina was dropped from hitting up to No 5 in the line-up before the game. "Going to the fifth spot doesn't make any difference, I have nothing to be ashamed of. I have done more than they've asked me too," he said. Cincinnati's Jay Bruce hit a pinch-hit, two-run single in the seventh inning to beat the Houston Astros 3-1.
There was a solo home run for Derrek Lee as the Chicago Cubs won 2-0 against the Milwaukee Brewers. The St Louis Cardinals came from behind to win 11-6 against the Florida Marlins. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 and now have a four-game lead over the Rockies in the National League West. The Arizona Diamondbacks went to the 10th inning before securing a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Brandon Allen made the difference with his 10th-inning go-ahead single. Earlier, Mark Reynolds made an outstanding catch in the third, leaping into the stands, and collecting two hits before Allen's late intervention. Former Los Angeles Angel Mark Teixeira struck the telling blow as the New York Yankees prevailed 5-3 against his former team in the game between the American League's two leading teams.
Brett Gardner took third base on an eighth-inning double-steal and came home on a throwing error to help secure the home win over Los Angeles at Yankee Stadium. But it was Teixeira's two-run triple which had given the Yankees their fifth-inning lead. The Detroit Tigers came from three runs down in the ninth inning to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5. Baltimore lost 8-4 in an encounter that went to form at Tampa Bay.
Oakland's Brett Tomko recorded his 100th career victory as the Athletics beat Texas 9-0. Jeremy Sowers's excellent pitching counted for nothing as the as the Minnesota Twins cashed in on mistakes to beat the Cleveland Indians 6-3. * Reuters
