Giants 1, Braves 0
Tim Lincecum allowed just two hits and struck out 14 in a dominating postseason debut as the San Francisco Giants blanked the visiting Atlanta Braves 1-0 in the opening game of the National League Division Series on Thursday night.
Cody Ross drove in Buster Posey in the fourth inning with the only run Lincecum needed.
Lincecum (1-0) set a Giants postseason record for strikeouts and retired the final eight batters, including Derrek Lee on strikes to finish the complete-game shutout. Lincecum, who issued just one walk, fanned five straight batters at one point during the early innings.
Posey led off the fourth inning with a single and stole second on a close play. After Pablo Sandoval was intentionally walked with two out, Ross followed with a ground single to left field that narrowly eluded the glove of Atlanta third baseman Omar Infante to score Posey.
Infante doubled to lead off the game for Atlanta but Lincecum didn’t allow another hit until Brian McCann’s one-out double in the seventh.
Braves starter Derek Lowe (0-1) went 5 1/3 innings and gave up one run on four hits. Lowe was replaced with runners on first and third in the sixth by reliever Jonny Venters, who induced Sandoval to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Posey had two of San Francisco’s five hits.