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 The 30-year-old right-hander struck out six and yielded one walk
in dominating the Padres, the team he also hurled his first career
no-hitter against last July.
"I wasn't really thinking about it out there, and at the very end it
caught me by surprise, and what do you know? You got a no-hitter,"
Lincecum told reporters.
The slightly built Lincecum, nicknamed "The Freak," breezed through
the Padres in the ninth, retiring pinch-hitters Chris Denorfia and
Yasmani Grandal before getting Will Venable to ground out to second
baseman Joe Panik to end the game.
Teammates rushed to the mound to celebrate the no-hitter, mobbing
Lincecum in delight.
The celebration also interrupted his on-field interview, as just
before he was about to speak a teammate dumped a bucket of blue
Gatorade over his head, which was immediately followed by another
dumping that sent the drenched pitcher heading to the clubhouse.
"He really was an artist out there," Giants manager Bruce Bochy
said.
"I thought he pitched very efficiently -- had all his pitches
working, hit his spots. I'm not just saying this. Early in the game,
I said he's got a chance to throw a no-hitter here just the way he
was locked in and had everything working for him."
Lincecum became the second Giant to pitch two no-hitters, silencing
the San Diego Padres before an AT&T Park audience that was anything
but silent during the game.
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Baseball Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson no-hit the St. Louis
Cardinals in 1901 and the Chicago Cubs in 1905 for the then-New York
Giants.
Lincecum, who also helped himself with the bat by going 2-for-3 in
the game and scoring two runs, threw 113 pitches, 73 for strikes,
before a crowd of more than 41,000 in the afternoon game as he
improved to 6-5 for the season.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner joined Hall of Famer Addie Joss
as the only pitcher to no-hit the same team twice, according to
Elias Sports.
Lincecum's gem was the third no-hitter of the Major League Baseball
season following no-hitters tossed by Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers
Josh Beckett and Clayton Kershaw.
(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)
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