Lincecum Struggles Against Goldschmidt Again, Giants Lose To D-Backs
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS / AP) -- Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run homer and sacrifice fly to pound Tim Lincecum again, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Francisco Giants 7-3 on Wednesday night.
Gerardo Parra hit a two-run homer and Eric Chavez added an RBI triple for his first hit in his first start of the year for Arizona.
Goldschmidt is batting .542 (13-for-24) with seven homers and 17 RBIs all-time against Lincecum, including a two-run homer last week at Chase Field.
Goldschmidt has been such a nemesis for Lincecum, the exasperated two-time NL Cy Young Award winner said last week he might have to throw underhanded to try to stymie the slugger.
Michael Morse and Buster Posey hit solo homers against Bronson Arroyo (1-0), who won his third straight decision against San Francisco.
Arroyo was staked to a nice lead early and worked five innings to earn his first win since joining the D-backs in February. He had a no-decision against the Giants last Thursday.
The right-hander allowed six hits and three runs, struck out two and walked one. He beat the Giants twice last season, including a seven-hitter at AT&T Park last July 22 with the Reds for his sixth career shutout in an 11-0 victory.
Josh Collmenter, who soon could join the struggling Arizona rotation, pitched four scoreless innings of relief for his first major league save.
Goldschmidt got things going at AT&T Park again. Parra led off the game with a triple, Martin Prado walked and Goldschmidt sent a 1-1 fastball into the elevated right-field arcade. He added a sacrifice fly in the third, then was booed each time he stepped into the batter's box in the late innings.
Parra connected for his first homer of the year with two outs in the fourth.
Angel Pagan singled in the first and has hit safely in all nine games for the Giants, batting .462 with seven multihit games
Lincecum (0-1) lasted just four innings, tagged for seven runs and seven hits. The right-hander received a $35 million, two-year deal in late October to stay put with San Francisco rather than test free agency.
Pablo Sandoval went 1 for 4 and is off to a slow start hitting .143 for San Francisco. Manager Bruce Bochy is confident that even though the Giants have tabled talks about a contract extension for the third baseman, it won't affect the 2012 World Series MVP on the field.
The D-backs avoided dropping to 2-9 for just the third time in franchise history.
Notes: Goldschmidt's homer marked the 22nd time an opposing right-handed hitter homered to AT&T Park's right field. ... After a slow start by the rotation, Arizona officials are discussing changes. Manager Kirk Gibson expects Trevor Cahill (0-3) to make his next start Sunday, but Collmenter will be stretched out and threw 53 pitches. "There is other personnel that will have to be considered," Gibson said. ... Ryan Vogelsong (0-0) pitches Thursday for the Giants against Randall Delgado (0-1). ... The Giants will hold "Farewell to the Stick" night Thursday to honor their former home of Candlestick Park. The NFL's 49ers played their final season in the venue last year.
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