Baggs' Instant Replay: Mariners 7, Giants 4

BOX SCORE

SEATTLETim Lincecum walked off to a standing ovation. That was nothing new.

The time, place and circumstances were altogether different, though.

No amount of hometown comfort could keep Lincecum from taking yet another loss Saturday night. Making his first career start at Safeco Field, the Seattle native exited after allowing a leadoff single to Jesus Montero leading off the sixth inning of a tie game.

Jeremy Affeldt cashed in Lincecums runand then some -- while allowing a series of soft singles, sending the Giants to a disheartening 7-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

The Giants are 0-9 in Lincecums last nine starts. Their former ace is 2-8 and his ERA rose to 6.19 after he was charged with five earned runs on five hits and two walks. With the Giants off on his next scheduled day to pitch, the club will have to think long and hard about skipping their two-time Cy Young Award winner, possibly moving him to the bullpen for a get-well inning.

Starting pitching report
Lincecum (2-8) might have had some homecoming jitters when he gave up solo home runs to Casper Wells and Jesus Montero in the first inning, one on a fastball and the other on a hanging slider.

He fell into a groove after that, retiring 10 of 11 hitters while striking out five of them. He had good fade on his changeup and appeared to be hitting Buster Poseys targets with most of his 90-93 mph fastballs.

But Lincecum only pitched to one batter from the stretch in the first four innings. Once Dustin Ackleys leadoff single in the fifth got him out of the windup, Lincecums struggles began anew. He threw very high while issuing a four-pitch walk to John Jaso.

The walk was his undoing.

Lincecum had some bad luck in the remainder of the inning while losing a 4-2 lead. Ichiro Suzuki chopped a changeup back up the middle that barely soared over Lincecums glove; second baseman Ryan Theriot made a diving stop to keep the single on the infield as a run scored.

Lincecum got ahead of Wells but bounced a 1-2 changeup badly; it took a hard deflection off Posey as Jaso raced home with the tying run on the wild pitch.

Lincecum walked off the mound to a standing ovation of Giants fans, as well as many Mariners fans who remember well his accomplishments at the University of Washington. But Montero ended up scoring the tiebreaking run on Affeldts watch, putting Lincecum in line for the loss.

Lincecum wasnt hit hard outside of two pitches in the first inning. But no amount of bad luck fully explains Lincecums 6.19 ERA, which ranks 121st out of 124 major league pitchers to make at least 10 starts.

Bullpen report
Affeldt, a fellow Washingtonian, could not prevent Lincecum from a losing decision. The left-hander entered after Monteros leadoff single and got dinked to death while allowing four singles, two of which stayed on the infield and another that bounced off the mound and into center.

George Kontos tossed two scoreless innings.

At the plate
Kevin Millwood no-hit the Giants in 2003 and was making his first start since he contributed six no-hit innings in the June 1 combined no-no against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Giants found him hittable enough this time, racking him for four runs on nine hits in five innings. But they also minimized chances while stranding six runners against him.

They erased a 2-0 deficit in the third inning when Brandon Crawford hit a leadoff double, Gregor Blanco beat out a sacrifice bunt when first baseman Justin Smoak double-clutched for an error and Ryan Theriot punched an RBI single.

Left fielder Casper Wells kept the inning from getting out of hand when he made a sliding catch to deny Melky Cabrera of an RBI hit. But Buster Poseys grounder to the hole brought in the tying run. The Giants couldnt move ahead, as Angel Pagan took a called third strike and Pablo Sandoval chased a very high pitch while striking out.

The bottom of the order set the table again in the fourth, as Brandon Belt drew a leadoff walk and Crawford singled. Theriot came through again, lining a two-out single up the middle to score Belt with the tiebreaking run. Cabrera followed with another liner to left field, and this one got down to score Crawford.

But the Giants shut down after Seattle rallied to push ahead. The at-bats got ugly in the late innings, as Sandoval and Belt chased pitches at the eyes or in the opposite batters box.

In field
Belt made a nice catch of Ichiros liner in the third inning and Crawford completed a step-and-throw double play on Ichiros grounder to end the sixth.

But the Giants needed a spectacular play to stop the bleeding in the sixth behind Affeldt and it didnt happen.

With runners at first and second, Ackley hit a grounder up the middle and Crawford ranged far across the infield to make the pickup. But the shortstop appeared to look at the runner going to second base before double-clutching. Ackley beat the throw for an infield hit that loaded the bases.

Pinch hitter Franklin Gutierrez followed with a grounder to third base, where Joaquin Arias knocked it down but couldnt make a clean backhand stop. Arias throw to first base was too late and Gutierrez was credited with an RBI single.

Brendan Ryan followed with a hard grounder off the mound that scored two.

Attendance
The Mariners announced 30,589 paid, including as strong a road contingent of Giants fans as anyone could remember. Among the faithful was former managing partner Bill Neukom, a Seattle resident, who leaned against the cage during batting practice.

Up next
The Giants finish their three-game series at Safeco Field with a Sunday matinee of young guns. Left-hander Madison Bumgarner (8-4, 3.08) faces right-hander Felix Hernandez (4-5. 3.70).