Sporting a bright red hat and Angels jersey that was in stark contrast to the black and orange he wore across the Bay Bridge for nine seasons with San Francisco, Lincecum gave up one run and four hits.
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He was more finesse than Freak – two strikeouts and a fastball at 89 miles per hour – but it was good enough to bring the multi-hued crowd to its feet several times.
Lincecum will make his debut across the bay from his old stadium Saturday at 1:05 p.m. and is anxious to get his career back on track after surgery to correct a hip condition exacerbated by the torque of his unique delivery.
Mike Trout homered, doubled and drove in three runs to help Los Angeles to its third win in four games. Pittsburgh lost for the ninth time in the past 10 games and fell to 1-7 against the Cubs this season.
Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb and Nick Ahmed homered for the Diamondbacks. The Mets (36-31) have lost five of seven. He blanked the Red Sox in the 11th and 12 innings, allowing one hit while striking out three and walking one.
His last four years in San Francisco were colored by inconsistency and on-field struggles.
Panik hit a two-out drive off Alex Colome (1-2) for the NL West leaders.
Joc Pederson and Howie Kendrick also homered for the Dodgers.
In St. Louis, Ian Desmond hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, sending Texas to its fifth consecutive win, a 4-3 decision over the Cardinals. But even that strategy didn’t work particularly well: Lincecum said he was flooded with even more adrenaline when confronted with an entire flock of his fans.
The Yankees scored three times in the ninth.
The Angels went on to load the bases with a double by C Carlos Perez and a walk to LF Shane Robinson. Jake Diekman got his second save. Bogaerts, who entered the day leading the AL in batting, also singled while raising his average to.352.
CHICAGO – Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and David Ross each hit home runs as Chicago rallied past Pittsburgh. And then pitch with some confidence. Machado’s penalty begins Sunday.
Gallardo (2-1) allowed two runs in five innings. The Oakland ace is winless since April 22. Lincecum escaped the bases-loaded jam getting Jed Lowrie on a groundout.
R.A. Dickey (4-8) fell to 0-5 against Baltimore while with the Blue Jays.
MINNEAPOLIS – Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning and Carlos Beltran added a two-run blast in the eighth as NY scored all its runs in the final innings to defeat Minnesota.
By the time he allowed his next baserunner, a walk to Valencia leading off the sixth, the Angels had scored seven straight runs to give him a cushion. Aroldis Chapman then gave up back-to-back homers to Eduardo Escobar and Kurt Suzuki with two outs in the bottom half before getting his 13th save in 14 chances. Los Angeles turned a double play in the second after Yonder Alonso’s one-out single, and center fielder Mike Trout threw out Billy Butler at second base in the fifth when the slugger tried to extend a single into a double. Fernando Abad (1-1) took the loss.
Not until after he had cleared the hurdle of the first inning.
Lincecum’s only hiccup came in the third inning.
Shields is 2-9 overall this year. He finished only three innings before giving way to the rest of the A’s bullpen.
In the ninth, Jeff Marte hit a one-out single for the Angels, followed by a single by Daniel Nava (originally incorrectly ruled a catch and overturned) that sent pinch-runner Todd Cunningham to third.
Kansas City’s Kendrys Morales drove in five runs with four hits as the Royals cruised to a 16-5 victory over Detroit.
Colorado’s Tyler Chatwood pitched just 1 2/3 innings because of back spasms.
The Marlins’ Wei-Yin Chen lasted 2 1/3 innings – the shortest start of his 131-game career. Springer was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts before he made the most of his extra-inning opportunity.
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Angels: RHP Jhoulys Chacin (2-2) pitches the series opener in Houston on Monday.
