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Bowker had an RBI single in the second, then homered in the fourth after Bengie Molina reached on an infield single. The ball cleared the 25-foot wall in right field, landing in almost the same spot as his home run on Saturday and making Bowker the first player in San Francisco history to homer in his first two games.
Lincecum (2-0) needed 23 pitches to get out of the first inning but settled in after that, allowing just one walk. The 23-year-old righty gave up six hits in six innings and retired 10 of the last 11 he faced.
Fred Lewis and Molina added two hits apiece for the Giants, who snapped a two-game skid and spoiled the season debut of St. Louis starter Joel Piniero.
Ryan Ludwick homered for the third straight game for the Cardinals and went 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
St. Louis, which rallied from five runs down to beat the Giants 8-7 in 10 innings Saturday, trailed 7-2 but scored twice in the eighth and loaded the bases with two outs against reliever Merkin Valdez before Tyler Walker came in and got Skip Schumaker to ground out to first.
Brian Wilson pitched the ninth to earn his third save in four chances for San Francisco despite giving up back-to-back singles to start the inning. The Giants closer got out of the jam by striking out Ludwick and Chris Duncan before Rico Washington flew out to center to end the game.
Piniero, the Cardinals' right-hander who began the year on the disabled list due to soreness in his pitching shoulder, looked strong in a minor league start on Tuesday but wasn't nearly as sharp in his return to the St. Louis rotation. He left after giving up six runs and 10 hits in 3 2-3 innings.
The Cardinals scored two runs off Lincecum in the third when Rick Ankiel doubled in Schumaker and later scored on Ludwick's single to center.
[Associated
Press]
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