SAN FRANCISCO — No Freakin’ way.
That was Tim “The Freak” Lincecum laying down the law to the Mets, a night after Scott Hairston and Co. had stunned another All-Star, Brian Wilson, with some ninth inning magic.
The Mets’ bats simply turned to linguine against Lincecum, and never showed up against the Giants’ bullpen in a 3-1 loss before 42,117 at AT&T Park.
Wilson this time remained idle, as Giants manager Bruce Bochy opted for Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo in the ninth. Romo struck out Hairston — the tying run — for the final out, handing the Mets their second loss in three games. It came a night after Wilson surrendered a tiebreaking bomb to Hairston in the ninth, sending the Mets toward a 5-2 victory.
The Mets (46-44) still can secure a series victory by beating Matt Cain tonight, in the final game before the All-Star break.
“That’s where you want to be, in situations like this where games are meaningful,” Carlos Beltran said.
Though Lincecum (7-7) wasn’t his sharpest, he frustrated the Mets for his final five innings. Over their last three games, the Mets have faced All-Star starters in Clayton Kershaw, Ryan Vogelsong and Lincecum, going 1-2. Cain will make it four straight All-Star starters faced by the Mets.
Lincecum allowed one earned run on four hits and four walks over six innings for his second quality performance against the Mets this season. On May 4 at Citi Field, the right-hander fired seven shutout innings for the victory. The Mets’ four hits against Lincecum last night were all doubles.
“But when you’re facing those quality pitchers, those guys step it up with runners in scoring position,” manager Terry Collins said. “They’re tough to score on.”
The Mets received about what they could have expected from Chris Capuano. The lefty allowed two runs on four hits and four walks over six innings.
It marked the sixth time in his last seven starts that Capuano (8-8) allowed two earned runs or fewer. Bobby Parnell allowed a run in the seventh inning to complete the scoring.
The Giants barely touched Capuano over his final five innings. Capuano retired 10 straight batters during one stretch, and Pablo Sandoval’s single with two outs in the fifth was the Giants’ only hit against him after the first inning.
But Capuano barely survived a rocky first inning in which the Giants sent eight batters to the plate and scored two runs on three hits and two walks. The tone for the inning was set when Lucas Duda couldn’t scoop Ruben Tejada’s relay throw that should have completed a double play, after Aaron Rowand’s leadoff single.
Nate Schierholtz’s infield single with the bases loaded gave the Giants a 1-0 lead before Aubrey Huff hit into an RBI fielder’s choice. Capuano then walked Chris Stewart to load the bases, but avoided complete disaster by retiring Brandon Crawford for the final out. Sandoval’s double, after the Mets failed to complete the double play, helped ignite the rally.
“They didn’t hit a lot of balls hard after that first inning, and we were right there in the game,” Capuano said.