Marlins at Giants
Tim Lincecum isn't the same pitcher that won consecutive National League Cy Young Awards with an overpowering fastball earlier in his career, but he'll try to continue his hot start when the San Francisco Giants host the Miami Marlins on Friday. " ... It’s just about executing down in the zone and kind of seeing what happens from there,” Lincecum told reporters. “I’m not striking out a lot of guys like I used to, so just tried to induce some poor contact.”
Lincecum's success invokes memories of 2008 and 2009 - when he went a combined 33-12 and struck out 526 in 452 1/3 innings, although his fastball tops out at 88 miles per hour these days. Lincecum faces a difficult challenge in Miami, which won the four-game eries opener 7-2 on Thursday and is 14-5 at AT&T Park since 2010 - the best record among visiting teams during that span. Dee Gordon went 3-for-5 on Thursday to raise his major league-leading average to .437 and extend the longest active hitting streak to 12 games as the Marlins, who are 2-2 on their 10-game road trip, won for the 11th time in their last 15 contests after a 3-11 start. Miami gives the ball to Jarred Cosart, who has never faced San Francisco.
TV: 10:15 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Miami), CSN Bay Area (San Francisco)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Marlins RH Jarred Cosart (1-2, 2.97 ERA) vs. Giants RH Tim Lincecum (2-2, 2.40)
Cosart allowed three runs and did not record an out in the sixth inning after yielding a pair of run-scoring hits in a 6-2 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday. "... I just threw pitches down the middle,'' the 24-year-old Texan told reporters. "I don't care if they're batting zero, zero, zero or five hundred. In the major leagues, you can't throw balls down the middle." Cosart boasts a 0.94 WHIP and has been especially tough on right-handers (.160 batting average) this season.
Lincecum yielded three hits and one walk while striking out four in eight innings of a 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday - his third quality start in five outings this season. “I just think Timmy did a nice job of keeping them off-balance,” catcher Buster Posey told reporters. “(He) never really got into too many patterns, elevated when he needed to, was able to get off-speed over for strikes behind in the count. Just did a nice job.” Lincecum is 2-3 with a 3.83 ERA in seven starts against Miami and has fared well against Gordon (3-for-21, five strikeouts) while handling Giancarlo Stanton pretty well (4-for-14, home run, five strikeouts).
WALK-OFFS
1. Marlins OF Christian Yelich, sidelined because of a back injury since April 20, could return to the lineup Friday.
2. The Giants have scored six or fewer runs in all 29 games this season - their longest such streak in the San Francisco era (since 1958).
3. Miami 3B Martin Prado, who is 10-for-30 with four doubles against Lincecum, has hit in seven straight games and is 12-for-31 during that span to raise his average to .309.