Our Padres take on Tim Lincecum again today in the rubber game at Petco Park, and they're hoping for vastly different results from the last time they faced him. Or the last four times for that matter.
The San Diego offense has seen some improvements over their recent stretch of 5-1 ball. While they've managed to move up a spot in the standings over the past month, the Giants moved down and out of the first-place spot they inhabited for most of the season due to a 6-18 run, leading up to today's matchup. Last night's extra-inning Padres loss put an end to a three-game skid for the Giants, during which they scored only three runs.
But Lincecum has been a bright spot during their current rut. His starts were the only ones in a 12-game stretch prior to yesterday that the Giants had won. One of those was his second career no-hitter against the Padres on June 25th. He followed that up with another dominant performance against the Cardinals. He kept them to just four hits through eight scoreless frames, throwing 113 pitches with 73 going for strikes. Overall, Lincecum is 15-6 with a 2.35 ERA in 28 career starts against San Diego.
While that all bodes well for the Giants, the Padres have reason to be confident in today's series finale with Jesse Hahn on the mound. Following a troublesome major league debut at the beginning of June, Hahn has turned things around and been fantastic ever since. He's led the Friars to victory in each of his last four starts and looks to keep that streak going today and help the team lock up the series. The righty is 4-1 with a 1.95 ERA over his five starts this season. That includes a great outing against these Giants at AT&T Park on June 24th. He allowed just two runs on four hits while striking out eight batters in six innings of work. He beat that K total one start later when he faced the Reds and retired nine via strikeout, a personal best.
Make sure to tune in at 1:10 PDT to see if our Padres can take the series.