Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum ended his Saturday workout early due to a stiff neck, but the Giants aren’t expecting it to be a problem once the World Series starts on Tuesday night in Kansas City, Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News reports. Lincecum was rostered but did not pitch in the NLDS or NLCS, and is once again joining the Giants in their quest for a championship.
Lincecum had another tough regular season, his third in a row. In 155 2/3 innings across 26 starts and seven relief appearances, the right-hander posted a 4.74 ERA with a 134/63 K/BB ratio. His 19.9 percent strikeout rate was the lowest of his career, and his fastball averaged under 90 MPH for the first time in eight seasons in the major leagues.
In Pavlovic’s article, manager Bruce Bochy said that Lincecum would have pitched the 19th inning in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Nationals -- after Yusmeiro Petit had thrown six scoreless innings -- but Brandon Belt gave the Giants the lead in the top of the 18th inning to break a 2-2 tie. Hunter Strickland held the Nationals scoreless in the bottom half of the 18th for the save.