San Francisco Giants (17-29) At Colorado Rockies (18-27), 8:35 P.m.
(Sports Network) - The San Francisco Giants have been let down by their bullpen a few times during their current six-game losing streak. Perhaps Tim Lincecum can give that unit a breather tonight, when San Francisco continues a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The Giants bullpen has been credited with four losses during the club's season-long skid. On the season, San Francisco's relievers are pitching to a 4.54 ERA, tied for 26th in the majors, and have the second-most losses by a bullpen with 11. The Giants will try not to let Lincecum down when he toes the rubber tonight. In his last start, Lincecum held Houston to three runs on five hits over six innings and struck out 10 before exiting with a 7-3 lead. However, the Astros plated five runs in the last two innings of that Thursday tilt to post an 8-7 win and hand Lincecum a no-decision. The right-hander is still 5-1 on the season with a 1.92 earned run average, and his 63 strikeouts rank first in all of baseball. Lincecum has faced the Rockies three times in his career and is 1-1 against them with a 4.24 ERA. That loss came on April 29 of this year, when he allowed three runs on eight hits over seven innings of work. Chris Iannetta homered off the star righty, while he and Matt Holliday had two hits each. In Monday's opener, a 4-3 Rockies' win, San Francisco starter Pat Misch gave up three runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. The loss was charged to Vinnie Chulk (0-3), who gave up a run on a hit in two-thirds of an inning. Randy Winn went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and finished with two RBI and two runs scored to increase his hit streak to 14 games for the Giants, who are just 4-13 in May. Winn is batting .375 (21-for-56) over his run. Fred Lewis had two triples and scored once in the loss, and Rich Aurilia drove in the other run for the Giants. Clint Barmes went 2-for-4 with a solo homer to increase his hit streak to 12 games for the Rockies. He is batting an even .500 (22-for-44) with two homers, six RBI and five runs scored during the tear and owns a .361 average on the season. Garrett Atkins went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored for the Rockies, who have rattled off three wins in a row on the heels of a six-game skid. Holliday also went 2-for-3 with a run scored and Yorvit Torrealba added a two-run double in the win. Aaron Cook will aim to rebound for the Rockies tonight after having a franchise-record six-start winning streak end last time out. He faced the Diamondbacks on Thursday and gave up five runs on 10 hits and four walks while fanning six over five innings. The big blow came in the fifth inning, when Chris Snyder unleashed a three-run homer to put Arizona up 5-0. Cook, who fell to 6-2 with a 2.82 ERA with the setback, faced the Giants on April 29 and earned the fourth win of his six-game run. The right-hander held San Francisco to a pair of unearned runs on 10 hits in seven innings of a 3-2 win. In 20 games (15 starts) in his career versus the Giants, Cook is 5-6 with a 4.47 ERA. In his career against Cook, Winn is hitting just .167 (3-for-18). These two clubs met in San Francisco in late April, with the Giants taking two of three over the Rockies.
Copyright 2008 Courtesy of The Sports Network.




