Sports stats



Lincecum Wins Meeting Of Top Pitching Prospects

April 7, 2007 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Portland Beavers News Release


FRESNO, Calif. - Top pitching prospect Tim Lincecum struck out eight and allowed just two hits over five shutout innings in his Triple-A debut to lead the Fresno Grizzlies to a 6-0 victory over the Portland Beavers Saturday night at Chukchansi Park.

Lincecum (1-0), who pitched at the University of Washington, teamed with Patrick Misch and former Beaver Dan Giese on the combined three-hit shutout. Misch gave up one hit and struck out three in three innings of relief, and Giese struck out two in the 1-2-3 ninth.

Lincecum (LIN-se-kum), San Francisco's first-round draft pick in 2006, is the No. 1 prospect of the Giants and is regarded as one of the top prospects in professional baseball.

Nate Schierholtz, who was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, homered for a third straight night, taking Portland starter Jared Wells deep to right field with no one on base in the bottom of the fourth to break a scoreless tie. Fred Lewis followed with a two-run homer off Wells (0-1) in the fifth, and the Grizzlies tacked on three more runs on the strength of three doubles in the sixth.

Wells, the No. 9 prospect of the San Diego Padres, was 0-2 with an 8.00 ERA in two starts against Fresno last season; he fared better in his third appearance against the Grizzlies (2-1), despite taking the loss. The right-hander allowed three runs on four hits and struck out six over five innings in his first start of the season for the Beavers (1-2), who were 8-3 in shutout games in 2006.

The Grizzlies went back to work in the bottom of the sixth. Chad Santos led off with a double, moved to third on an error on a pickoff attempt by reliever Tim Stauffer and scored on a wild pitch. Schierholtz and Tomas De La Rosa then hit back-to-back doubles to stretch the lead to 5-0, and Clay Timpner drove in the third run of the inning with an RBI single.

The Beavers conclude their season-opening series with the Grizzlies Sunday at 2:05 p.m. Portland begins a four-game series at Sacramento on Monday before making its home debut at PGE Park on Friday, April 13.

NOTES: Lincecum has 66 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings pitched during his two-year professional career ... the three Fresno pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts in the game ... Stauffer, who is limited to bullpen duty while coming back from a biceps injury sustained in spring training, made just the fourth relief appearance of his four-year career ... another touted pitching prospect, Cesar Carrillo, gets the start for Portland on Sunday, his first since missing the second half of the 2006 season with a strained right forearm ... the Beavers lead the all-time series with Fresno, 48-35 ... Giese made three appearances with Portland in 2003 ... Schierholtz has a double and a home run in each of the three games in the series ... the Beavers will travel to Sacramento by bus following Sunday's afternoon game.

Beavers Game File

SATURDAY'S GAME: Fresno 6, Beavers 0

WINNING PITCHER: Lincecum (1-0)

LOSING PITCHER: Wells (0-1)

SAVE: None

HOME RUNS: Schierholtz (3), Lewis (1)

SUNDAY'S GAME: Portland (Cesar Carrillo: NR) at Fresno (Erick Threets: NR), 2:05 p.m.; live broadcast on KKAD AM-1550 and www.portlandbeavers.com.



Pacific Coast League Stories from April 7, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central