Photo by Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group
San Francisco, CA - Two days ago he was called up from Triple-A Fresno prior to Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tyler Colvin made his first start in a Giants uniform and in his first at-bat he hit his first career home run that "splashed" into McCovey Cove.
Colvin drove in a pair of runs when he tripled in the seventh and helped San Francisco defeat the Atlanta Braves 4-2. He became the first Giants player with at least one home run and a triple in his first home game since Darrell Evans did it on June 23, 1976.
"To be apart of a winning ball club and get the hits I did right there is pretty high up there," Colvin said. "To help Timmy out, he pitched a great game. I feel pretty good about it."
Tim Lincecum pitched his best game of the season. He held the Braves hitless through 4 1/3 innings and finished the night yielding two hits, one run, four walks and fanned eleven. His 11 strikeouts were the most by a San Francisco pitcher this season.
"It was vintage Timmy the way he had his good secondary pitches going along with the fastball," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "He was using both sides, all quadrants. He was going up with the ball and had a good curveball, changeup, slider and mixed it up well."
"I was able to keep my pitch count down relatively and that allowed me to have that leash to get out there in the seventh and eighth innings, which I've been looking for," Lincecum said.
He made it through six innings for the first time this season. Lincecum's night ended in the eighth when he issued his last free pass to Jason Heyward. He walked off the mound to a thunderous ovation from the sellout crowd at AT&T Park.
"That guy has [an arsenal]," said Atlanta's manager Fredi Gonzalez. "Today he had his fastball going, slider and a split. We couldn't figure out when he was going to throw all of those pitches. But to me he had some pretty good weapons and he had them all working tonight."
B.J. Upton was the only Braves player to get two hits off Lincecum. Upton tied the game 1-1 in the fifth when he blasted a solo shot to left field. Then his one-out double in the seventh accounted for the other hit but when he stole third the play was challenged and overturned.
Colvin's two-run triple, followed by Brandon Hicks RBI single gave San Francisco a 4-1 lead bottom of the frame. Atlanta's next and final hit came in the ninth off Javier Lopez when Freddie Freeman also "splashed" in McCovey Cove cutting the lead in half.
The Giants who are coming off a 7-3 road trip and have gone 11-5 at home this season, winning six of their last seven home games and nine of their last eleven. Michael Morse made his first start at first base for the first time this season.
He played 55 games at shortstop with the Seattle Mariners during his rookie year in 2005. Bochy said that Morse would get the bulk of the playing time at first while Brandon Belt is out recovering from thumb surgery. Morse admitted to having some concerns playing first for the first time this season.
"It's baseball, man... Everything concerns me," said Morse. "We've got such a great infield, these guys can put the ball right on the money, so I'm just going to put my glove out there and let them hit it."