Giants, Lincecum prevail against Padres

[July 07, 2014]  Giants 5, Padres 3: Tim Lincecum allowed one run over six-plus innings and Brandon Belt had two RBIs as visiting San Francisco held off San Diego in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Lincecum (8-5) allowed three hits while striking out six over 6 1/3 innings and exited after throwing 105 pitches. Lincecum, who no-hit the Padres on June 25, didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and had his scoreless innings streak snapped at 23 1/3 after Brooks Conrad belted a one-out homer in the seventh.

Brandon Belt gave the Giants an early lead with an RBI single in the first off Jesse Hahn (4-2), who yielded three runs on five hits over seven frames and saw his four-game winning streak come to an end. Leadoff hitter Hunter Pence went 3-for-4 and scored three times for San Francisco, which recorded just its second series win in nearly a month.

San Francisco extended its lead to 3-0 in the third as Joe Panik doubled in a run and scored on Michael Morse’s two-out single. Panik went 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Giants, who moved ahead 5-1 in the eighth after Pence scored on Belt’s sacrifice fly and Hector Sanchez delivered an RBI double.

The Padres, who have lost two in a row following a five-game winning streak, cut the deficit to 5-3 in the eighth on Yasmani Grandal’s two-out, two-run homer off Sergio Romo. Santiago Casilla retired the Padres in order in the ninth for his third save and second in as many games.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval missed the game with a bruised left elbow and is listed as day-to-day. … San Francisco SS Brandon Crawford is mired in a 5-for-39 slump after going hitless in three at-bats on Sunday. … Romo has allowed a career-high seven home runs this season for San Francisco, which improved to 36-11 when scoring first.

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