Tim Lincecum No-no Ten Years Later

Associated Press

The man dubbed “The Freak” by San Francisco Fans for his insane windup, pulling the glove behind the back, before rushing the ball to the plate. His deception in the first half of his career led to two consecutive Cy Young awards, cementing himself as the ace of a young pitching staff including Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain. The man pitched in high-leverage situations, pitching a two-hit shutout of the 2010 NLDS Game One, striking out 14 to one walk. He remained agile throughout the run in 2010, keeping his team in the ballgame before turning to the bullpen. However, only one game remains in the minds of Giant fans. Game Five of the World Series.

In a rematch of Game One with Cliff Lee, The Freak was dominant, pitching eight innings, allowing one run on three hits, propelling the Giants to their first World Series win since 1954 and their first since their move to San Francisco.

Tim Lincecum remained dominant until the magic was lost, forcing Bruce Bochy to put him in the bullpen, regaining the strength to allow the Giants to clinch their second championship in three years.

In 2013, it was a different story. He had a 10.57 ERA coming out of Spring Training and 4.61 going into Petco Park on July 13th, 2013. There were moments of brilliance, including the start prior where he struck out 11 in seven innings. However, this night would prove to be better.

To set the stage, it was Lincecum’s last start before the All-Star break so pitch count was not much of a factor in this start. Keep that in mind going forward in this article.

In the first inning, Lincecum threw 24 pitches, with nine going to the leadoff hitter Evereth Cabrera. No Hits.

In the second, he only threw 14 pitches, though he did hit Jedd Gyorko with a pitch. No hits. Two strikeouts

In the third, he dropped it further to 11 pitches, still no hits yet 49 pitches through three innings of work. Stuck out the side.

In the fourth, it rose to 16 pitches, thanks to a 10-pitch at-bat by Yonder Alonso that ended with a strikeout. No hits. 65 on the pitch count. Two more strikeouts.

In the fifth, 13 pitches, no hits, and another strikeout gave him eight on the night.

The sixth inning became problematic, he threw 28 pitches, with two walks, and runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs, but got Carlos Quintin to line out to Brandon Crawford. Another two strikeouts, but he was up to 106 on the pitch count, yet no hits.

Typically that would be the end of the night for any normal starter. However, given the All-Star break and Lincecum’s history, Bochy didn’t have that hard of a decision going into the next inning, but he needed to get the count down.

Going to the seven, he needed eight to get two batters, then came Jesus Guzman.

Along with a 3-4 night, Pablo Sandoval dazzled this long throw pass the foul line to get Guzman to keep the no-no in check.

To the eighth, he is at 114 pitches, 10 strikeouts, and three walks. It took five pitches to get a groundout and another strikeout. However, he walked Everth Cabrera, to bring up Alexi Amarista. Take it away Jon Miller.

“Almost” every no-hitter has that one play. Hunter Pence’s dive to rob Amarista was no exception. Everything was set for the bottom of the ninth. 131 pitches on the night, the most since Johan Santana’s no hitter against the Cardinals the previous year at 134. He had 12 strikeouts and four walks coming into the inning.

The first batter, Chase Headley, took five pitches to strikeout. One out. The next batter Carlos Quintin took six pitches to fly out to left fielder Gregor Blanco. 142 pitches on the night, the most since Edwin Jackson in his no-hitter against the Rays in 2010 at 149. On pitch 148 to Yonder Alonso this happens.

From the Cy Youngs to the World Series winners, no one doubted the greatest of The Freak, and while his career began to falter after this season, for one night in San Diego in 2013, he was once again on top of the world. He must have liked it so much, he also no-hit them again the following year in San Francisco, coming within a walk of a perfect game.

Lincecum won another title with the Giants in 2014, but after 2016 and several injuries called it a career. 110-94 record, 3.74 ERA, and 1,736 strikeouts, 13 of which came from this game. While not the prettiest no-hitter, it still lies in the books for all to see.

Fun Fact: this was Edinson Volquez’s second no-hitter thrown against him, the first was Roy Halladay’s No-Hitter in Game One of the NLDS in 2010. He later went on to have his own no-hitter in 2017.