Recap: San Francisco vs. Los Angeles
Sports Network | September 28, 2008
San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Tim Lincecum put the finishing touches on a possible Cy Young campaign by tying a career-high with 13 strikeouts in seven more brilliant innings on the mound, as the San Francisco Giants ended the season with a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Lincecum (18-5) allowed just a run on four hits and two walks while registering nine strikeouts in the first three innings for the Giants (72-90), who had two wins in the three-game set.
Nate Schierholtz was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI in the victory.
Hiroki Kuroda took a no-decision despite allowing a mere two hits in five scoreless innings for the Dodgers (84-78), who dropped three of their last four but already had wrapped up the NL West. Chan Ho Park (4-4) was credited with the loss.
Andre Ethier drove in a run and reached base safely in a career-high 23 straight games, as the Dodgers look ahead to a National League Division Series matchup with the Chicago Cubs later this week.
Despite swinging through most of Lincecum's pitches in the first three innings, Ethier gave LA a 1-0 lead in the third with an RBI double to center.
The lead held until the seventh when Pablo Sandoval, pinch-hitting for Lincecum, singled home a run, and Schierholtz followed two batters later with a run-scoring single to right.
Randy Winn added an insurance run on a base hit with runners on the corners in the eighth, and Brian Wilson worked around two hits in the ninth to finish off his 41st save of the season.
Lincecum snapped a two-start skid and finished with an MLB-best 265 strikeouts this season...Nomar Garciaparra served as the manager for the Dodgers, while fellow infielder Mark Sweeney was as his bench coach, as per the custom of Joe Torre during the final regular season game...The Dodgers will be without Hong-Chih for the first round of the postseason after the reliever underwent tests for what appeared to be a circulatory problem in his left arm...The season series finished tied, 9-9.
