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Lincecum Puts On Clinic As Giants Blank Mets

NEW YORK (AP) -- With a boisterous bunch of orange-and-black clad fans in the crowd and weather conditions similar to home, Tim Lincecum knew the formula was right for a special night.

He sure provided one.

Lincecum struck out 12 to surpass Christy Mathewson for most double-digit strikeout games in Giants history and Pat Burrell hit a tiebreaking single against his favorite opponent, lifting San Francisco over the New York Mets 2-0 on Wednesday night.

"Windy and wet is kind of what I'm used to," Lincecum said.

Lincecum (3-3) gave up five hits in seven innings, throwing 127 pitches for his most since Aug. 28, 2009. He struck out his final five batters.

"Terrific job," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's one of those special guys, when he's had to turn it up a notch he can do it."

Four Giants relievers completed the six-hitter with Brian Wilson working a perfect ninth for his 10th save. The Giants can finish their 10-game road trip with a sweep of the Mets on Thursday.

Mike Fontenot added an insurance run with an RBI single off Chris Capuano (2-3) in the seventh and Aubrey Huff had three more hits to lift his average over .200. The defending World Series champions won two in a row for the first time since April 18-19 and have won just five of their last 13 games.

The Mets struck out 16 times, a season high for a nine-inning game, and were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. New York faced a Cy Young winner for the third time in four games, going up against Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee last weekend in Philadelphia. Lincecum was the most dominant.

We're a big league team, too," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "We've got to start putting the ball in play, we've got to start driving in some easy runs."

The Freak needed 26 pitches to get through the first inning, yielding a one-out double to Daniel Murphy. But he didn't allow a runner to reach third until the sixth.

Lincecum has three double-digit strikeout games this year and 29 for his career. Mathewson played all but one of his games for the New York Giants from 1900-1916.

It's cool," Lincecum said. "I still got more pitching to do."

After giving Lincecum one run of support in his last two outings -- both losses -- the Giants were scoreless until Burrell's RBI single.

Burrell has always hit well against New York. He has 42 homers and 106 RBIs against the Mets, best off any opponent.

"I have some success against the Mets, especially in Philadelphia, but it hasn't been so good recently," Burrell said. "It was nice to go out there and drive in a big run for us."

This time he hurt the Mets with a simple single.

Fontenot led off the sixth with a walk and Huff followed a strikeout with his third hit of the game and fourth in four at-bats before Burrell's hit put them ahead.

Capuano intentionally walked Miguel Tejada with two outs to load the bases. But Lincecum bounced back to the mound to end the threat.

On Tuesday, Huff hit a home run in the 10th inning to lift the Giants to a 7-6 win.

"I'm sure the homer did a lot for him last night," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

Lincecum gave up a leadoff double to Carlos Beltran and a single to Ike Davis in the bottom of the sixth, but got Ronny Paulino to pop foul. Freddy Sanchez made the catch on the warning track beyond the Mets dugout and then bounced up to make a perfect throw that held Beltran at third.

"That was great by him even to keep the guy form scoring, getting the ball in quick like that," Lincecum said.

The right-hander then struck out two to end the inning and fanned the side in the seventh to end his night.

Capuano gave up eight hits and two runs in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out five and walked three.

"I really didn't feel great with my stuff today," Capuano said. "Today was one of those games where it was kind of a battle from the get-go."

NOTES: The Mets placed RHP Pedro Beato on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his pitching elbow. Lefty Mike O'Connor was brought up from Triple-A Buffalo to take his place in the bullpen. ... Giants OF Andres Torres (strained left Achilles' tendon) is going to Triple-A Fresno to play in an unknown number of rehab games, Bochy said. ... Mets SS Jose Reyes grounded out leading off in the first to snap a streak of reaching in seven straight plate appearances. ... The Mets struck out 17 times on April 10 in an 11-inning game against Washington.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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