Lincecum pitches Giants past Cubs

[May 06, 2009]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Tim Lincecum allowed four hits over seven innings and Bengie Molina hit a three-run homer Tuesday, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Lincecum (3-1) struck out seven and walked two in ending the Cubs' four-game winning streak.

Resting five regulars against Lincecum, the 2008 NL Cy Young winner, Cubs manager Lou Piniella went with a lineup featuring six players who were in the minors as recently as 2007.

Among those starting for the Cubs was Bobby Scales, a 31-year-old infielder making his big league debut after spending 11 years in the minors.

Scales, who supplements his income by working as a substitute teacher during the offseason, singled in the fifth inning and later scored on a single by pitcher Sean Marshall to cut San Francisco's lead to 3-2.

Scales ended up going 1-for-4 and struck out to end the game.

The Giants broke it open with a three-run eighth that featured Aaron Rowand's two-run double off reliever Jeff Samardzija. Rowand's bases-loaded hit snapped an 0-for-20 slump.

The offensive outburst was unusual for a Giants team that entered the game averaging a major-league-low 3.5 runs -- and a big boon for Lincecum, who is 23-1 in his career when receiving at least three runs of support.

Molina provided those three runs in the very first inning, hitting his fifth homer of the season after Marshall (0-2) surrendered singles to Edgar Renteria and Rich Aurilia. Like most San Francisco hitters, Molina had been struggling coming in, with four hits in his previous 23 at-bats.

With the Cubs playing a day game after a night game, Piniella opted to rest two players who had started every game -- left fielder Alfonso Soriano and shortstop Ryan Theriot -- as well as right fielder Milton Bradley, catcher Geovany Soto and third baseman Aramis Ramirez.

Notes: The Giants rested infielder Pablo Sandoval, who was batting .387 in his previous 16 games. Sandoval, who has a slight groin injury, pinch-hit in the eighth and grounded into a double play. ... The Giants are 11-0 when scoring first in a game, 2-12 when the opponent scores first. ... Cubs OF Kosuke Fukudome went 0-for-13 on the homestand. ... Cubs 1B Derrek Lee is batting .278 at home vs. .108 on the road.

[Associated Press]

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