SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The scene is becoming all too familiar for Tim Lincecum as he watches Paul Goldschmidt launch home run after home run.
Seven of them, to be exact. And two in seven days.
Lincecum surrendered the Arizona star’s three-run homer in the first inning and a third-inning sacrifice fly that sent the Diamondbacks past the San Francisco Giants 7-3 on Wednesday night.
“I had to get my out any way I could, and I didn’t get any outs,” Lincecum said. “I just have to start leaning on a little bit more of my strength and not necessarily his weaknesses. I know he’s got some holes here and there, but I have to mix up my pitch counts and my pitch routines.”
Gerardo Parra hit a two-run homer and finished a double shy of the cycle, while Eric Chavez added an RBI triple for his first hit in his first start of the year for Arizona.
Goldschmidt is batting .542 (13-for-24) with seven homers and 17 RBIs all-time against Lincecum, including a two-run homer last week at Chase Field.
His latest homer marked the 22nd time an opposing right-handed hitter homered to AT&T Park’s right field.
“He’s got to make better pitches on him, that’s pretty simple,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “He got that ball up. Next time, he threw a decent slider, but that ball was up, too. It’s all about executing your pitches and you have to keep your focus. You can’t think about it.”
Goldschmidt insists his fortunes could turn in a hurry against Lincecum, and that he doesn’t think about the streak.
Yet, Goldschmidt has been such a nemesis for Lincecum, the exasperated pitcher said last week he might have to throw underhanded to try to stymie the slugger.
“I was kind of worried it may go foul, but I think the wind actually helped keep it fair. It was right down the line,” Goldschmidt said. “You know Lincecum’s a very good pitcher. So you just go up there and try to have a good at-bat and try to hit the ball hard, and fortunately I was able to get one there in the first inning. It really doesn’t change. Try to have a good at-bat, try to keep it simple.”
Michael Morse and Buster Posey hit solo homers against Bronson Arroyo (1-0), who won his third straight decision against San Francisco.
Arroyo was staked to a nice lead early and worked five innings to earn his first win since joining the D-backs in February. He had a no-decision against the Giants last Thursday.
Parra led off the game with a triple, Martin Prado walked and Goldschmidt sent a 1-1 fastball into the elevated right-field arcade. He added a sacrifice fly in the third, then was booed each time he stepped into the batter’s box in the late innings.
“Hopefully the streak continues,” manager Kirk Gibson said. “It’s amazing.”
Parra connected for his first homer of the year with two outs in the fourth.
Angel Pagan singled in the first and has hit safely in all nine games for the Giants, batting .462 with seven multihit games
Lincecum (0-1) lasted just four innings, tagged for seven runs and seven hits. The right-hander received a $35 million, two-year deal in late October to stay put with San Francisco rather than test free agency.
He said he might be trying too hard against Goldschmidt.
“Right now, I’m just falling into backward counts where he’s pretty dangerous,” Lincecum said.
Pablo Sandoval went 1 for 4 and is off to a quiet start hitting .143 for San Francisco. Manager Bruce Bochy is confident that even though the Giants have tabled talks about a contract extension for the third baseman, it won’t affect the 2012 World Series MVP on the field.
Notes: Ryan Vogelsong (0-0) pitches Thursday’s series finale for the Giants against Randall Delgado (0-1). … The Giants will hold “Farewell to the Stick” night Thursday to honor their former home of Candlestick Park. The NFL’s 49ers played their final season in the venue last year.
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