The Giants' Bengie Molina (top) celebrates his home run against the Diamondbacks with Pablo Sandoval in the fourth inning Friday. The Giants won 5-1.
PHOENIX – On their first day back on the job after taking two of three games from the Colorado Rockies, the Arizona Diamondbacks took another step backward Friday night in losing 5-1 to the Giants before a crowd of 27,865 at Chase Field
Tim Lincecum, denied a victory in his last outing despite pitching eight scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks with 13 strikeouts, picked up where he left off and dominated Arizona once again.
This time, he allowed one run off five hits through eight innings and fanned 12 more batters to earn his first win of the year.
“I just try to be as aggressive as I can with most teams,” Lincecum said. “And I really get more aggressive with these guys for some reason.”
In addition to Lincecum’s brilliant effort, the Giants (7-8) got home runs in the first from shortstop Edgar Renteria and in the fourth from catcher Bengie Molina to help post their fourth straight victory and their fifth in the past six games.
The Diamondbacks, who dropped to 6-10, haven’t won as much as two games in a row since last season when they swept the Rockies to close out the year.
Outside of a couple pitches to Renteria and Molina, starting pitcher Doug Davis was fairly solid early until having to battle in the sixth.
That’s when the Giants picked up their third run. Davis would be charged with two more in the seventh after being relieved by Juan Gutierrez.
A double by Molina off the glove of Chris Young in deep center field made it 5-1.
But like it’s been on most nights, the problem with the Diamondbacks was a lack of offensive punch.
Including his last start, Lincecum, the National League’s reigning Cy Young Award winner, had shut them out for 12 straight innings until Davis, of all people, knocked in Arizona’s run.
In the fifth, Justin Upton hit a one-out double down the line in left and with two outs, Davis laced a single to center to pull the Diamondbacks within 2-1.
Diamondbacks fans thought their team had a sure run on the board earlier, when Eric Byrnes belted a rising line drive in the third that hit the yellow line surrounding the top of the wall in left field.
But it wasn’t a home run. In accordance with Chase Field ground rules, it was a live ball and Byrnes had to settle for a double.
He was later tagged out at third to end the inning.
After facing Lincecum, the Diamondbacks now have to take on their longtime former teammate, Randy Johnson, who gets the start for the Giants on Saturday.
Johnson beat Arizona on Sunday in San Francisco, throwing a one-hitter over seven innings. He will be trying for his 297th career victory.
“I would say maybe the adrenaline gets pumped up a little bit and he’ll probably get a nice reception from the crowd,” Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said.
“But once the game starts, it’s all about him trying to make his pitches and us trying to make him work and getting some hits off of him.”
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UP NEXT: San Francisco (Johnson 1-2) at Arizona (Scherzer 0-1), 5:10 p.m. Saturday. TV: FSNA. Radio: 1490 AM